RIG  AN  BREE: 

OF  POULTRY 


PtATt 


t  nutrition  Llv 


THE 

AMERICAN  BREEDS 
OF  POULTRY 


THEIR  ORIGIN,  HISTORY  OF  THEIR  DEVELOP- 
MENT, THE  WORK  OF  CONSTRUCTIVE 
BREEDERS  AND  HOW  TO  MATE 
EACH  OF  THE  VARIETIES 
FOR  BEST  RESULTS 


BY 

FRANK   L.   PLATT 


PUBLISHED  BY 
AMERICAN    POULTRY   JOURNAL 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Ocx- 


COPYRIGHT,  1921  BY 

JAS.  W.  BELL  &  Co 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 


Mr m  I^b. 

<?^ 


PREFACE 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  present  an  authentic  history  of  the 
origin  and  development  of  the  American  breeds  of  domesticated  fowls 
and  set  forth  the  proper  matings  to  be  made  in  each  of  the  varieties. 

The  writer  also  has  undertaken  to  explain  the  widespread  popu- 
larity which  the  American  breeds  today  enjoy,  by  setting  forth  the 
reasons  why  this  type  of  fowrl  is  the  most  useful  and  productive. 
Moreover,  it  has  been  his  aim  to  point  out  why  a  further  extension 
of  their  breeding  is  both  practicable  and  desirable. 

With  a  firm  economic  foundation  upon  which  to  build,  the  next 
-step  has  been  to  show  the  permanence  of  the  position  occupied  by 
constructive  breeders  of  these  fowls  and  the  vital  relation  that  their 
breeding  yards  bear  to  the  poultry  industry  as  a  whole. 

It  seems  highly  desirable  to  make  plain  this  important  relation- 
ship between  the  breeder  and  the  national  industry  of  producing 
poultry  meat  and  eggs  for  human  consumption,  that  the  true  dignity 
of  the  breeder's  craft  may  be  fully  understood  and  appreciated,  and 
that  the  beginner  may  feel  justified  in  devoting  the  time  necessary  for 
a  thorough  study  of  the  principles  which  underlie  the  breeder's  work. 

The  title  of  this  book  was  suggested  by  James  W.  Bell,  publisher 
of  the  American  Poultry  Journal,  and  its  production  has  been  made 
possible  by  him.  More  than  a  year  has  now  elapsed  since  the  work 
was  started.  As  I  have  proceeded  in  writing  the  manuscript  the 
horizon  at  times  has  seemed  to  broaden  and  recede.  However,  the 
leisure  necessary  for  research  and  study  has  been  granted  cheerfully, 
and  the  expense  of  travel  to  gather  certain  details  on  history  and 
mating  has  been  met  as  cheerfully.  Therefore,  may  I  not  in  the  words 
of  Swinburne  say  to  J.  W.  B.: 

"Take,  since  you  bade  it  should  bear, 
These,  of  the  seed  of  your  sowing — 

Blossom  or  berry  or  weed. 
Sweet  though  they  be  not,  or  fair, 
That  the  dew  of  your  word  kept  growing, 
Sweet  at  least  was  the  seed." 

1  desire  to  acknowledge  with  appreciation  the  suggestions  of  my 
friend  W.  H.  Smith,  assistant  professor  of  animal  husbandry,  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois;  the  freely  given  experience  of  numerous  successful 
breeders,  each  of  whom  is  credited  in  the  text;  and  the  help  and 
inspiration  gained  from  Eugene  Davenport's  ''Principles  of  Breeding." 

FRANK  L.  PL  ATT. 

486503 


The  American  Breeds 


Breed  Variety 

Barred 
White 

PLYMOUTH  ROCK  <(  OM  ., 

I  Silver  Penciled 

Partridge 
Columbian 


Silver 

Golden 

White 

,  Buff 

WYANDOTTE       \  ^.     , 

Black 

Partridge 
Silver  Penciled 
Columbian 


RHODE  ISLAND  REDS f  Single  Comb 

Rose  Comb 


BUCKEYES      ...........      Buckeyes 

DOMINIQUES     ..........        Dominiques 


\Mottled 


Blue  Plymouth  Rocks,  Rhode  Island  Whites  and 
Black  Giants  are  new  varieties  which  also  are  treated 
in  the  text. 


CHAPTER   I 
ORIGIN   OF  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS 

Origin  of  the  fowl — Introduction  of  the  fowl  to  Europe — Important 
developments  of  fowls  in  eastern  Asia — Introduction  of  the  Asiatic 
type  to  America — Crossbreeding  that  led  to  the  production  of  the 
American  breeds — Appearance  of  the  Plymouth  Rock,  Wyandotte  and 
Rhode  Island  Red 

The  American  breeds  are  the  production  of  poultry  breeders,  often 
called  fanciers.  Their  history  is  modern.  If  the  Dominique  and  Java 
are  excepted,  it  may  be  said  that  the  other  four  breeds  which  comprise 
the  American  class — namely,  the  Plymouth  Rock,  Wyandotte,  Rhode 
Island  Red  and  Buckeye — have  been  developed  and  introduced  since 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  Thus,  within  the  lifetime  of  men  still 
living,  American  breeders  have  done  what  nature  had  not  done  in  all 
the  epochs  of  history.  They  have  originated  a  new  economic  type  of 
fowl  and  given  to  the  world  the  Plymouth  Rock,  the  Wyandotte  and 
the  Rhode  Island  Red. 

This  remarkable  achievement  came  about  not  as  the  result  of  the 
creation  or  sudden  appearance  of  totally  new  features,  but  rather  as  a 
result  of  the  new  breeds  inheriting  qualities  and  characteristics  which 
were  drawn  from  already  existing  foundation  stock. 

*  The  early  history  of  the  modern  American  breeds  shows  them  to 
have  originated  from  the  crossbreeding  of  three  distinct  and  distantly 
related  types  of  fowl.  One  type,  which  was  the  home  stock,  had  been 
carried  to  the  eastern  United  States  by  the  early  settlers  from  Eng- 
land and  western  Europe.  The  other  types  were  imported  to  America 
from  southeastern  Asia  and  from  China.  An  account  of  these  Old 
World  groups  of  fowls  should  prove  an  instructive  preface  to  the 
rise  and  development  of  the  American  breeds. 

Origin  of  the  fowl.  The  original  wild  stock  from  which  the  old 
domesticated  races  descended  is  believed  to  have  had  its  origin  in 
Asia.  That  continent  has  the  largest  land  area,  the  most  varied  cli- 
mate and  food  supply,  and,  in  fact,  the  general  aspects  of  nature  are 
the  most  diversified  in  the  great  geographical  division  of  the  earth 
known  as  Asia. 

Inhabiting  the  primeval  jungles  of  India  and  the  Malayan  coun- 
tries there  may  be  found  even  to  this  day  a  little  wild  fowl,  Gallus 
bankiva.  Charles  Darwin,  the  great  English  naturalist,  accepted  this 
jungle  fowl  as  the  parent  source  of  all  the  breeds  of  domesticated 
chickens.  It  is  a  black-red  colored  variety,  similar  to  the  Brown 
Leghorn,  but  much  smaller  than  the  Leghorn.  The  traveler  to  that 
far  country  who  spends  a  night  on  a  clearing,  with  the  lofty  forests 

5 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


and  dense  thickets  round  about,  may  awaken  in  the  morning  to  hear 
the  crowing  of  these  cocks,  and  during  the  day  he  may  hear  the 
cackling  of  wild  hens  and  the  peeping  of  their  chicks. 

One  who  has  had  this  experience  has  remarked  on  how  strange  it 
was  to  hear  rural  sounds  of  civilization  and  domestication  in  the  vast 
solitude  of  the  jungle.  He  has  told  of  being  on  a  piece  of  cultivated 
land  near  the  haunts  of  the  wild  fowl,  after  the  crops  had  been  cut, 
and  seeing  twenty  or  thirty  of  the  birds  advancing  boldly  into  the 
open  in  twos  and  three.  But  no  game  is  more  difficult  to  reach,  and 
before  the  stealthiest  human  foot  could  approach  they  had  taken  wing 
like  quails  and  found  covert  in  the  recesses  and  dense  foliage  of  the 
jungle. 

It  is  said  that  the  natives  catch  the  wild  fowls  by  stretching  a  rope 
across  where  the  birds  are  believed  to  walk;  and  tied  to  the  rope  are 


Callus   Bankiva,   or  Jungle    Fowl   of  India,    as   Painted   by   Louis   A.    Stahmer,    From 
Models  in  the  Field  Museum,  Chicago. 

strong  hair  nooses  into  which  the  birds  are  run;  or,  if  the  rope  is  laid 
on  the  ground,  the  birds  may  step  into  the  nooses,  which  tighten  and 
hold  them. 

Jungle  fowls  in  domestication.  The  bankiva  is  hardy  when  con- 
fined in  captivity,  and  it  withstands  climatic  changes  to  good  advan- 
tage when  transported  from  its  native  haunts — offering  a  basis  for 
that  adaptability  of  fowls  to  the  wide  range  of  conditions  around  the 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS  7 

world  to  which  they  have  been  subjected.  The  young  birds  become 
tame  when  reared  in  confinement.  This  is  an  interesting  trait  of  this 
wild  species,  because  an  adaptability  to  domestication  seems  to  be 
one  of  the  rarest  qualities  possessed  by  animals.  The  pheasant,  for 
instance,  is  truly  wild,  and  there  is  an  indescribable  timidity  about  it 
that  will  not  permit  it  willingly  to  accept  the  company  of  man,  his 
care  and  protection  in  exchange  for  its  own  life  in  the  wild.  It  has 
been  stated  that  the  number  of  different  kinds  of  animals  which  man 
actually  has  domesticated,  in  the  "thousands  of  years  capturing,  sub- 
duing and  taming  hundreds  of  different  species  of  all  classes,"  does 
not  amount  to  fifty. 

There  are  three  other  varieties  of  wild  Galli,  in  addition  to  the 
bankiva,  and  all  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  common  domestic 
fowl.  The  late  Homer  Davenport  had  all  four  kinds  on  his  farm  at 
Morris  Plains,  New  Jersey.  He  found  the  gray  and  fork-tailed  varie- 
ties particularly  wild,  and  it  was  impossible  to  handle  them  to  any 
extent.  "They  never  become  tame,  and  grow  restless,  however  large 
their  aviaries  may  be,"  he  wrote.  Undoubtedly  the  four  varieties  are 
allied  somewhat  closely,  for  they  have  been  known  to  cross  between 
themselves  and  produce  fertile  offspring.  The  bankiva,  however,  is 
known  to  cross  with  domestic  stock  and  produce  offspring  that  is 
fertile. 

Darwin  rejected  all  of  the  varieties,  except  the  bankiva,  as  probable 
progenitors  of  the  domestic  fowl,  because  of  certain  dissimilarities. 
However,  there  was  some  lingering  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  old 
naturalist,  for  he  wrote:  "Finally,  we  have  not  such  good  evidence 
with  fowls  as  with  pigeons,  of  all  breeds  having  descended  from  a 
single  primitive  type."  Later  investigation,  including  the  experiment 
commenced  in  1903  by  the  Ceylon  Poultry  Club  to  determine  the 
possibility  of  the  Ceylon  jungle  fowl,  or  Gallus  stanleyii,  having  been 
one  of  the  varieties  from  which  domestic  poultry  had  its  origin, 
resulted  in  showing  in  a  limited  way  that  when  the  G.  stanleyii  is, 
bred  to  domestic  fowls,  the  hybrids  are  not  altogether  sterile  when 
bred  between  themselves.  This  is  of  interest,  for  it  suggests  the 
possibilities  of  some  other  wild  species,  of  which  no  trace  now 
remains,  having  influenced  the  early  domestic  fowl.  History  on  this 
matter  is  very  incomplete.' 

Introduction  of  the  fowl  to  Europe.  While  the  theory  has  been 
advanced  that  the  bankiva  is  a  feral  race — which  is  to  say,  tame  stock 
that  has  escaped  into  the  wild,  like  the  wild  horses  that  roamed  over 
the  western  plains  which  were  descendants  of  horses  brought  to 
America  by  the  Spanish  invaders — the  more  general  opinion  prevails 
that  the  bankiva  was  the  progenitor  of  the  early  European  stock. 
The  sculptured  Lycian  marbles  now  in  the  British  Museum  portray 
a  type  that  is  representative  of  the  jungle  fowl.  The  bankiva  is  the 
diminutive  prototype  of  the  Black-Red  Game  of  the  old  English  fight- 
ing stock,  and  also  resembles  the  Brown  Leghorn,  an  Italian  breed. 


8 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


There  was  an  important  route  to  the  west  along  which  the  fowls 
of  India  were  carried.  Darwin  believed  that  the  first  domesticated 
specimens  reached  Europe  about  six  centuries  B.  C.  The  Greeks 
referred  to  the  fowl  as  a  Persian  bird.  This  indicates  the  line  of 
distribution.  Persia  laid  to  the  west  of  India,  and  the  line  of  impor- 
tation was  from  India,  through  Persia  to  Greece,  Italy  and  southern 
Europe,  thence  from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  to  France,  the 
Netherlands  and  Britain. 


Mosaic  of  a  cock  unearthed  from  the  ruins  of  Pompeii,  Italy,  that  ancient  city 
which  was  destroyed  by  the  volcanic  eruption  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  A.  D.  79.  The 
type  of  fowl  to  be  found  in  Italy  in  the  first  century  is  thus  preserved  by  the  small 
pieces  of  colored  stones  that  were  fitted  together  in  that  long  ago  time.  This 
valuable  piece  of  inlaid  stone  worlk  was  in  the  collection  of  the  late  C.  W.  Post, 
and  the  illustration  is  furnished  by  the  courtesy  of  the  Postum  Cereal  Company. 

Edward  Brown,  who  possesses  a  critical  knowledge  of  poultry 
breeds,  and  who  has  been  privileged  to  study  the  native  stocks  of  all 
the  principal  European  countries,  stated  at  the  second  Reading 
(England)  conference  of  poultry  instructors  and  investigators  that 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS  9 

he  believed  all  the  breeds  of  western  Europe  to  have  originated  from 
the  Italian  races  of  fowls.  It  is  a  straight  line  from  Italy  to  the 
East;  so  it  probably  was  the  "Persian  bird"  which  had  come  originally 
from  India  that  was  carried  westward  to  the  Mediterranean  and  then 
followed  the  tendrils  of  civilization  westward  across  Europe. 

This  was  the  stock  that  was  carried  to  the  shores  of  North  America 
by  those  early  colonists  who,  turning  their  faces  westward  and 
seeking  the  freedom  of  the  New  World,  still  cherished  the  fruits  of 
the  Old. 

Important  development  of  fowls  in  eastern  Asia.  Fowls  also  were 
bred  in  China  and  the  Malayan  countries.  The  early  travelers  into 
China  particularly  were  astonished  by  the  large  size  of  the  poultry. 
It  is  on  the  origin  of  this  large  Chinese  race,  which  is  now  known 
as  the  Cochin,  that  the  greatest  doubt  is  cast  on  the  bankiva  as  being 
the  parent  stock.  Extraordinary  size  as  well  as  structural  and  tem- 
peramental differences  make  it  stand  apart.  Could  birds  of  the 
Cochin  type  have  descended  from  the  same  primitive  wild  type  as 
the  Game,  the  Leghorn  or  the  Spanish  of  Europe?  The  bankiva  is 
smaller  than  the  least  of  these. 

Variation  in  form  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  useful  con- 
siderations in  the  entire  subject  of  origin.  If  races  were  not  always 
as  they  now  are,  what  factors  contributed  to  the  changes  and  brought 
about  new  developments?  There  is  no  animal  breeder  who  believes 
there  can  be  no  variation  in  form  or  departure  from  a  previous  type. 
The  most  inexperienced  is  familiar  with  the  fact  that  no  two  animals, 
even  when  born  of  the  same  parents,  are  exactly  alike.  He  knows 
that  visible  deviations  from  the  parent  type  may  be  caused  by  sub- 
jecting the  growing  stock  to  poor  housing,  parasites  and  insufficient 
food. 

Natural  selection.  In  taking  a  hasty  glance  back  into  the  past,  it 
appears  easy  enough  to  see  modifications  of  type  taking  place  as  the 
early  tamed  fowls  adapted  themselves  to  new  conditions  of  life  under 
the  tremendous  influences  of  climate,  food  supply  and  the  general 
aspects  of  nature.  But  when  we  come  to  put  our  finger  on  the  time 
when  a  factor  for  size  got  into  the  germ  plasm  of  the  Cochin  and 
made  the  Cochin  a  big  breed  because  it  was  within  its  nature  to  grow 
big,  we  find  the  theory  of  gradual  evolution  and  acquired  characters 
is  a  speculation  on  a  phase  of  history  that  is  most  obscure  because  of 
the  lapse  of  time  and  scarcity  of  evidence. 

How  did  the  size  of  the  Cochin  arise?  It  is  easy  to  speculate  on 
a  supposed  period  of  transition  through  which  the  Cochin  of  China 
passed — a  period  in  which  the  early  tamed  fowls  of  the  tropics  were 
carried  into  central  Asia,  where  the  vicissitudes  of  a  rigorous  climate 
stimulated  digestion,  and  then  transplanted  to  the  superior  feeding 
grounds  of  eastern  Asia,  where  the  birds  were  fed  paddy  or  unhusked 
rice,  a  grain  in  which  the  proteins  are  of  a  high  order.  But  growth 
is  the  result  of  cell  division,  not  larger  cells,  but  more  cells;  and  how 


10 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


did  a  new  element  get  into  these  birds  that  enabled  them  to  grow 
a  bigger  bone,  a  larger  body,  a  fuller  plumage  before  they  were 
matured  and  cell  division  had  ceased?  We  do  not  know.  It  is  known 
that  the  individual  animal  has  a  growth  tendency  or  impulse  to  obtain 
a  certain  size,  and  the  best  food  will  no  more  than  enable  it  to  attain 
the  upper  limit  of  that  size.  The  size  possibilities  of  an  animal's 
skeleton  are  determined  by  heredity. 

Origin  of  the  Chinese  stock  is  unknown.  Tegetmeier,  who  was 
associated  with  Darwin  in  some  of  his  researches,  at  first  accepted 
the  theory  that  all  breeds  of  domestic  poultry  originated  from  a 
common  primitive  ancestry,  but  more  extended  and  careful  con- 
sideration led  him  to  the  belief  that  the  Cochin  must  have  descended 
from  some  large-bodied,  short-winged,  easily  tamed  species  that 
entirely  passed  into  a  state  of  domestication  as  did  the  camel  and 
the  horse. 

Other  scientists  have  suggested  a  multiple  origin  of  the  domestic 
fowl.  They  have  suggested  that  the  case  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
humped  cattle  of  the  Orient,  which  are  believed  to  have  descended 

from  a  different  stock  than 
that  which  furnished  a  foun- 
dation for  the  cattle  of 
Europe.  However,  the  do- 
mestication of  animals  was  a 
work  performed  by  primitive 
man.  Even  fowls  appear  to 
have  been  domesticated  be- 
fore the  dawn  of  civilization, 
and  man's  own  recorded  his- 
tory does  not  carry  present- 
day  students  back  to  within 
sight  of  the  early  processes 
and  developments.  Accord- 
ing to  an  old  Chinese  ency- 
clopedia, the  domestic  fowl 
of  China  was  first  received 
from  the  West  about  the  year 
1400  B.  C. 

The  Malayan  stock.  The 
Malay,  another  old  race  of 
the  Orient,  came  from  the 
southeastern  section  of  Asia, 
particularly  from  the  penin- 
sula whose  name  it  bears.  It 
is  somewhat  smaller  than  the 
Cochin,  representative  speci- 
mens that  were  imported  in 
the  early  days  weighing  nine 
to  eleven  pounds  for  cocks 


A  red  game  cock  brought  from  Maley  about 
1846  by  Captain  Richard  Wheatland,  and  bred 
in  Salem,  Mass.,  for  three  seasons,  and  now 
in  preserved  form  in  the  Peabody  Academy 
of  Science,  Salem.  This  cock  has  a  pea 
comb,  yellow  legs,  red  plumage  throughout, 
including  tail  (except  white  in  flight  of  one 
wing).  Under  color,  light  to  dark  slate.  This 
type  of  Maley  is  generally  credited  as  the 
progenitor  of  the  R,  I.  Red. 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS 


11 


and  seven  to  nine  pounds  for  hens.  The  origin  of  the  size  of 
the  Malay,  like  that  of  the  Cochin,  is  lost  in  the  records  of  time. 
Modern  specimens  of  this  breed  carry  a  peculiar  comb,  called  straw- 
berry in  America,  walnut  in  England,  and  it  may  be  produced  by 
crossing  a  pea  comb  on  rose  combed  fowls.  The  pea  type  of  comb 
was  common  in  early  importations.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the 


A    Pair   of    Malays    Imported    From    England    by    E.    R.    Cope 
of  Philadelphia  in   1850. 

Malay  may  have  resulted  from  a  cross  of  the  compact  bodied,  pea 
comb  Aseel  Game  of  India  on  scantily  feathered  Cochins. 

The  Aseel  is  believed  to  be  a  very  old  breed,  representing  the 
ancient  fighting  stock  of  India,  which  dates  back  to  ten  or  twelve  cen- 
turies before  the  time  of  Christ.  It  is  brawny  across  the  shoulders, 
wide-hipped,  plump-breasted,  and  strongly  muscled  on  wings,  breast 
and  thighs.  It  is  the  direct  ancestor  of  the  Cornish  Indian  Game,  in 
which  these  characteristics  are  so  pronounced.  There  is  a  tendency  to 
this  brawny  type  in  occasional  specimens  of  the  American  breeds. 

The  early  importations  of  Malay  game  fowls  are  the  third  type 
that  was  referred  to  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  as  determining 
to  some  extent  the  hereditary  bent  of  the  American  breeds. 

Introduction  of  the  Asiatic  types  to  America.  The  Malay  was  the 
first  of  the  big  Asiatics  to  be  imported  to  England  and  America.  In 


12 


THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


addition  to  its  size,  the  breed  was  characterized  by  standing  high  upon 
the  legs,  being  long  in  neck,  and  having  a  cruel  expression  of  head. 
In  his  book  on  poultry,  which  was  first  published  in  London,  1815, 
Moubray  speaks  of  it  as  "the  largest  of  all  the  Gallinaceous  tribe." 

Malays  were  introduced  in  and  around  Philadelphia  at  about  that 
time,  and  were  used  to  throw  size  into  the  native  stock,  the  result 
being  the  production  of  a  large  mongrel  breed  which  was  variously 
named  Chittagong,  Bucks  County  fowl,  and  even  Malay.  The  Malay 
also  was  introduced  into  that  section  of  New  England  which  lies 
between  the  ports  of  Fall  River  and  New  Bedford,  and  exerted  a 
lasting  influence  on  the  breed  which  this  historical  poultry  district 
has  developed — the  Rhode  Island  Red.  In  those  early  days  of  sailing 
vessels,  fowls  for  food  were  carried  alive  in  ships,  and,  if  possible. 
a  particularly  fine  bird  was  kept  alive  for  sale  at  the  end  of  the  voyage. 
The  Chinese  stock  followed  the  introduction  of  the  Malay.  Five 
principal  ports  of  China  were  thrown  open  to  commerce  in  1843. 
including  that  of  the  city  of  Shanghai.  From  thence  the  "Shanghais'' 
came,  and  soon  there  appeared  in  England  and  America  a  type  ot 
fowl  that  now  is  known  as  the  Cochin.  Some  of  the  cocks  weighed 
twelve  to  fifteen  pounds  and,  because  of  their  copious  plumage,  looked 
even  larger.  They  created  a  sensation  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  most  ridiculous  tales  were  told  respecting  them.  The  roosters 
were  described  as  being  at  least  big  enough  to  eat  off  of  the  top  of 

a  barrel,  and  while  ordi- 
nary hens  probably  could 
lay  one  egg  a  day,  these 
ostrich  fowls  from  China 
were  supposed  actually 
to  lay  two  or  three.  The 
birds  were  said  to  take 
to  petting  kittens,  and  to 
be  unable  to  fly  over  a 
three-foot  fence.  There 
resulted  a  Cochin  mania 
which  took  the  country 
by  storm  from  1849  to 
1854.  Money  was  plenti- 
ful, and  here  was  to  be 
had  a  new  sort  of  poul- 
try far  different  from  the 
old  native  stock. 

A  surprisingly  large 
number  of  people  want- 
ed to  participate  in  the 
ownership  and  breeding 

of  these   new   fowls.     In 
A   Pair  of  Shanghais  as  Shown  at  the  First   Poultry         ,  i    j    • 

Show  Held  in  America,  Boston,   1849.  acknowledging  receipt  Ot 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS 


13 


a  pen  of  the  birds,  Henry 
Clay  wrote:  "To  my 
stock  on  hand  your  birds 
will  be  a  congenial  and 
valuable  addition;  and  if 
we  succeed  with  them,  I 
will  take  care  not  to  mo- 
nopolize the  benefit  of 
them."  Daniel  Webster, 
in  response  to  the  arri- 
val of  some  of  the  stock, 
wrote:  "The  coop  of 
chickens  arrived  safely 
and  are  noble  specimens 
of  the  Chinese  fowl.  I 
thank  you  for  the  con- 
signment, and  consider 
them  a  most  valuable 
addition  to  my  stock  of 
poultry." 

In  England,  the  peo- 
ple, from  Queen  Victoria 
and  the  nobility  down, 
were  enthusiastic  about 
this  new  stock.  Before 
1850  very  few  people  ex- 
cept farmers  had  paid 

attention  to  fowls,  and  such  as  they  kept  were  the  native  stock  of  the 
home  districts.  There  were  a  few  old  breeds  fairly  well  established 
but  not  generally  introduced.  The  advent  of  the  Cochin,  however, 
gave  to  purebred  poultry  an  impetus  that  has  continued  ever  since. 

Crossbreeding  that  led  to  the  production  of  American  breeds.  The 
Asiatics  were  bred  in  increasing  numbers,  particularly  in  the  New 
England  states,  and  their  blood  was  diffused  into  the  common  stock 
of  the  country.  "They,  more  than  any  other  race,  had  the  size  which 
degenerate  native  stock  everywhere  lacks,"  writes  John  Robinson. 
It  was  stated  by  the  same  authority  that,  as  a  result  of  the  infusion 
of  Asiatic  blood  into  the  native  stock,  "the  average  size  of  the  fowls 
brought  to  the  Boston  market  was  doubled  within  a  few  years." 

While  the  Asiatics  were  being  used  largely  for  immediate  results, 
there  was  a  designed  effort  on  the  part  of  an  American  breeder  to 
employ  the  Chinese  stock  in  the  production  of  a  new  breed.  Refer- 
ence is  made  here  to  Dr.  John  C.  Bennett,  of  Plymouth,  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  product  of  his  effort  was  shown  as  "Plymouth  Rocks" 
at  the  first  poultry  show  in  America,  held  in  a  tent  erected  on  the 
public  gardens,  Boston,  1849. 

These  Plymouth   Rock  fowls  were  the  result  of  crossing  Cochin- 


Dr.    Bennett'iS   Original   "Plymouth   Rock"   Fowl. 


14 


THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


China  and  Malay  blood  on  the  old  English  stock.  However,  the 
plumage  of  the  fowls  so  produced  was  variegated,  and  the  color  of 
the  shanks  also  varied,  being  white,  yellow,  green  or  blue  in  different 
individuals.  Some  of  the  birds  were  feathered  on  shanks,  and  the 
majority  carried  five  toes,  the  extra  digit  being  inherited  from  the 
English  Dorking  breed.  "They  are  domestic,"  wrote  the  originator, 
"and  not  so  destructive  to  gardens  as  smaller  fowls." 


Chittagong-   Fowls   as   They   Were    Illustrated   in   Dr.   J.   J.    Kerr's   Poultry   Book. 
Published    in    Philadelphia,    1851. 

The  public  was  receptive  to  the  idea  of  a  large,  docile,  yet  pro- 
ductive breed,  and  stock  was  shipped  into  "most  of  the  New  England 
states  and  western  New  York."  The  demand  for  Dr.  Bennett's 
"Plymouth  Rocks"  was  reported  by  him  as  greater  for  the  first  season 
or  two  than  for  any  other  breed  which  he  kept  at  the  time.  The. 
crucial  test,  however,  always  is  in  the  ability  of  stock  to  breed  true 
enough  to  transmit  with  some  certainty  and  satisfaction  the  charac- 
ters and  qualities  of  the  breed.  This  is  true  even  in  new  varieties,  once 
they  are  offered  to  the  public;  for  the  very  continuation  of  a  breed 
depends  upon  it  being  sufficiently  well  established  to  reproduce  itself. 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS 


It  was  the  subsequent  breeding  of  Dr.  Bennett's  cross  that  did  not 
fulfill  the  early  and  generous  expectations  of  those  who  had  taken 
up  the  fowl,  and  the  first  "Plymouth  Rocks"  died  out. 

From  the  crossing  of  Asiatic  on  native  stock  other  breeds  arose, 
and  two  of  them  particularly,  the  Chittagong,  or  Bucks  County  fowl, 
and  the  Jersey  Blue,  attained  some  standing,  but,  like  the  early 
Plymouth  Rocks,  proved  to  be  neither  lasting  nor  durable,  and  long 
since  have  passed  out.  There  may  be  found  today  in  Burlington 
County,  New  Jersey,  a  large  black  fowl  of  more  recent  pedigree.  It  is 
called  the  Black  Giant,  having  been  bred  first  on  the  farm  of  John 


Plymouth  Roclk  fowls  as  they  appeared  in  1872.  This  is  believed 
to  he  the  earliest  picture  of  thj  breed.  The  original  wood  cut  bore 
the  initials  of  Edwin  Forbes,  an  early  delineator  of  poultry  who  lived 
in  Xew  York. 

and  Thomas  Black,  about  thirty  years  ago.  Like  the  old  Chittagong 
of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  it  is  used  to  make  Philadelphia 
capons.  While  never  receiving  more  than  local  recognition,  the  Black 
Giant  is  a  comparatively  modern  expression  of  the  Asiatic  influence 
on  the  common  stock. 

Appearance  of  the  Plymouth  Rock,  Wyandotte  and  Rhode  Island 
Red.  A  breed  is  more  than  a  mere  intermediate  type.  It  is  a  family 
the  members  of  which  possess  distinctive  characters  that  are  fixed 
so  firmly  that  they  may  be  transmitted  uniformly.  The  modern 
Barred  Plymouth  Rock  was  such  a  family.  It  made  its  appearance 
in  1869,  when  the  New  England  Poultry  Club,  centering  at  Worcester, 


16  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

Massachusetts,  held  its  annual  exhibition.  Several  years  already  had 
been  spent  in  the  work  of  developing  the  breed,  and  here  in  reality 
was  established  between  the  Cochin  and  a  common  Dominique  male 
a  cross  that  was  to  make  lasting  friends. 

It  is  recorded  that  Rev.  D.  A.  Upham,  who  made  the  'exhibit  at 
Worcester,  took  orders  for  one  hundred  setting  of  eggs  at  two  dollars 
a  setting.  By  1882,  C.  E.  Thorne,  associate  editor  of  Farm  and  Fire- 
side and  author  of  "The  Complete  Poultry  Book,"  referred  to  the 
F'lymouth  Rock  as  "the  most  popular  breed  of  fowls  in  the  United 
States,  and  deservedly  so,  since  they  combine  more  qualities  valuable 
to  the  general  poultryman  than  any  other  single  breed.  By  1885  the 
Poultry  World,  published  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  remarked:  "The 
number  of  breeders  of  Plymouth  Rocks  exceeds  that  of  any  other 
variety."  That  this  large-bodied,  clean-shanked,  prolific  stock  was 
indeed  a  great  boon  to  American  farmers  and  poultry  keepers  gener- 
ally was  shown  by  the  wide  dissemination  of  the  Barred  Plymouth 
Rock  at  the  end  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  its  introduction,  when 
it  was  the  accepted  and  common  type  of  farm  fowl  from  the  Maine 
woods  to  the  prairies  of  western  Nebraska. 

The  Wyandottes  and  Rhode  Island  Reds  have  been  introduced 
since  the  Rock  made  its  debut,  although  their  early  history  traces 
back  about  as  far.  They  likewise  are  the  result  of  combining  the  blood 
of  the  old  Asiatic  and  European  stock  as  imported  and  bred  in 
America.  The  success  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  was  a  challenge  and  a 
stimulus  to  the  Wyandotte  breeders,  who,  in  their  effort  to  develop 
an  intermediate  type  or  general  purpose  fowl,  selected  the  rose  comb 
character  and  bred  for  a  laced  color  pattern,  in  contrast  to  the  single 
comb  and  barred  color  pattern  of  the  Plymouth  Rock;  while  in  the 
farm  fowls  of  Rhode  Island  the  red  color  always  remained  uppermost, 
making  them  distinctively  Rhode  Island  Reds. 

Breeders  have  since  improved  each  of  these  breeds  to  the  point 
where  they  are  today,  a  point  where  an  average  sort  of  bird  which 
may  sell  for  ten  dollars  may  be  far  better  than  what  the  early  breeders 
had  to  work  with,  even  though  they  had  sought  such  a  specimen,  pre- 
pared to  pay  a  hundred  dollars  for  it.  Indeed,  the  history  of  the 
development  of  the  Plymouth  Rock,  Wyandotte  and  Rhode  Island 
Red  is  a  story  of  progress  in  breeding  and  vast  multiplication  in 
numbers  bred. 


CHAPTER  II 
A  DUAL  PURPOSE  TYPE 

Utility  qualities  of  the  American  breeds — As  meat  producers — Grading 

up  the  farm  flock  for  size  through  the  use  of  purebred  Plymouth  Rock 

males — As    egg   producers — On    the    farms — Future    of   the    American 

breeds — High  prices  for  purebred  specimens 

Grade  specimens  of  the  American  breeds  are  today  furnishing  the 
bulk  of  the  poultry  meat  and  eggs  that  are  consumed  by  our  popu- 
lation. The  widespread  use  of  the  blood  of  these  breeds  is  not  the 
result  of  chance  or  necessity,  nor  is  it  due  to  advertising  propaganda 
or  exploitation  by  breed  associations.  It  is  a  success  based  on 
economic  efficiency,  that  is,  on  the  ability  of  fowls  of  this  type  to 
return  the  largest  profit  when  they  are  fit  into  the  operations  of  the 
general  farms  of  the  country. 

Utility  qualities.  To  be  popular  with  the  farmer,  a  chicken  must 
be  a  family  fowl,  producing  a  satisfactory  number  of  eggs  and  fur- 
nishing a  carcass  of  good  quality  and  sufficient  size.  Fresh  beef, 
pork  or  mutton  are  not  available  in  the  country  on  any  day  through- 
out the  year,  and  a  large  part  of  the  poultry  that  is  grown  is  used  to 
supply  the  farmer's  table.  The  American  breeds  possess  both  meat 
and  egg  properties.  They  are  dual  purpose,  sometimes  called  general 
purpose  breeds.  It  is  this  combination  that  makes  them  all-round 
fowls  and  gives  to  them  the  advantage  of  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
average  farmer. 

That  we  may  fully  understand  what  utility  qualities  these  improved 
races  possess,  let  us  sum  up  briefly  the  characters  and 'traits  of  the 
foundation  stock  from  which  the  Plymouth  Rocks,  Wyandottes  and 
Rhode  Island  Reds  derive  their  inheritance  of  size,  flesh  and  egg 
qualities.  To  begin  with,  the  common  barnyard  fowl  of  England,  as 
found  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  was  "of  middling  size,"  according 
to  Moubray,  who  was  the  author  of  the  first  poultry  book,  published 
in  London,  1815.  The  skin  of  this  common  British  poultry  was  stated 
by  Darwin  to  be  white. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Asiatic  type  was  especially  characterized 
by  large  size.  Slower  movements  came  with  great  size,  and  birds 
from  the  Asiatic  importations  were  poor  foragers  and  easily  confined. 
The  females  were  ordinary  layers,  not  exceptional.  They  were  par- 
ticularly persistent  setters,  the  maternal  instinct  being  emphatically 
strong  in  them.  Both  Malays  and  Cochins  were  yellow  skinned.  Both 
carried  a  relatively  large  part  of  their  weight  in  their  legs,  the  thighs 
and  drumsticks  being  thick  and  musclar,  and  the  bone  in  the  shanks 

17 


18 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


heavy.  Their  meat  was  rather  coarse-grained  in  comparison  with  the 
fine-grained  flesh  of  the  poultry  of  England  and  western  Europe. 
The  Asiatics  were,  however,  of  more  robust  constitution.  The 
Malays  were  of  rather  pugnacious  disposition,  and  the  males  some- 
what troublesome.  Both  breeds  laid  eggs  with  strong  shells,  and 
the  chicks  were  well  covered  with  down  when  hatched,  but  rather 
slow  to  feather.  The  eggs  were  of  brown  color,  for  the  breeds  were 
inclined  to  red  ear-lobes,  with  which,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  brown- 
shelled  eggs  are  associated. 

Such  was  the  foundation  on  which  the  modern  superstructure  has 
been  built  by  the  genius  of  American  breeders.  They  have  produced 
a  group  of  breeds  that  are  the  embodiment  of  a  new  economic  type 
which  has  since  been  imitated  by  the  breeders  of  England  in  their 
Orpingtons  and  Sussex,  by  the  breeders  of  France  in  their  Faverolles, 
by  those  of  Belgium  in  the  Malines,  and  those  of  Spain  in  the  Prat. 
There  are  certain  features,  such  as  color  of  skin,  development  of 
head  appendages,  or  feathering  on  the  shanks,  which  readily  distin- 
guish the  modern  European  breeds  from  the  American,  as  might  be 
expected  from  breeders  of  different  nationalities  working  with  a  spe- 
cies such  as  domestic  poultry,  which  not  only  possesses  many  variable 
features,  but  in  which  crosses  between  diverse  types  may  be  made 

with  ease.  However,  the  gen- 
eral history  of  the  origin  of 
the  modern  European  and 
American  breeds,  and  the 
place  occupied  by  them  in 
their  respective  countries,  are 
parallel. 

The  Plymouth  Rocks,  the 
Wyandottes  and  the  Rhode 
Island  Reds  are  well  known 
to  be  yellow  skinned,  to  lay 
brown-shelled  eggs,  and  to 
be  sitters.  Likewise,  their 
size  and  vigor  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  infusion  of 
Asiatic  blood,  and  represent- 
ative specimens  of  the  Amer- 
ican breeds  will  be  found  to 
possess  not  only  substantial 
size  and  good  substance,  but 
also  a  hardiness  that  adapts 
them  to  the  climate,  food  and 
treatment  of  the  nation. 

In    number    of    eggs    laid 
and    quality    of    flesh,    these 
A  Well  F'.-shed  White  Rock  Capon.  breeds    are    an    improvement 


A    DUAL    PURPOSE   TYPE 


19 


on  the  Asiatics.  While  neither  flighty  in  temperament  nor  quick  on 
the  wing,  the  American  breeds  are  not  as  inactive  as  the  big  races 
of  Asia;  they  are  domestic,  yet  satisfactory  foragers,  when,  the 
snow  having  melted  and  the  poultry  house  door  opened,  the  chickens 
are  at  liberty  to  glean  most  of  their  living  from  the  range  of  the 
general  farm. 

The  American  breeds  are  moderately  hard-feathered,  which  makes 
them  more  economical  to  grow  than  the  longer,  more  profusely 
feathered  Cochins.  Excessive  feather  is  always  costly  to  grow. 

As  meat  producers.  The  Standard  weights  of  the  American  breeds 
as  set  by  the  American  Poultry  Association  are  as  follows: 


Cock 

Pounds 

TTen 
Pounds 

Cockerel 
Pounds 

Pullet 
Pounds 

Plymouth    Rock        

9^ 

7>-> 

8 

6 

Wyamlotte    

ZYi 

6J4                  7^/2 

534 

Rhode    Island    Red        8J/2 

6'A                 7X 

5 

Buckeye         9 

(»Vi                  8 

sx 

Java   
Dominique    

9  J4 

7 

7r/> 
5 

8 
6 

6  1/- 
4 

Taking  the  birds  as  they  run,  it  will  be  found  that  the  Rocks  are 
the  largest  of  the  six  breeds  which  comprise  the  class,  and  when  bred 
somewhat  for  meat  production  the}-  meet  the  most  critical  demand  for 
roasting  or  large  type  fowls. 

The  Wyandotte  made  its  early  reputation  as  a  broiler  rather  than 
a  roasting  chicken.  It  reaches  the  two-pound  stage  quickly,  in  a 
plump  condition  and  better  covered  with  plumage  than  the  Rock. 
The  Wyandotte  makes  a  plump  and  nicely  fleshed,  well  proportioned 
capon  at  weights  of  from  seven  to  nine  pounds. 

The  Rhode  Island  Red  originally  was  colony  farmed  for  eggs  in 
the  Little  (Jompton  district  of  Rhode  Island,  and  the  uniformity  of 
size  found  in  the  Reds  at  the  present  time  is  the  direct  result  of 
selective  breeding  since  fanciers  have  taken  up  the  breed.  Popular 
favor  has  been  extended  to  even  a  larger  type  of  Red  than  what  the 
American  Poultry  Association  has  set  as  standard,  and  a  six-pound 
pullet  usually  will  win  over  a  Standard  five-pound  pullet,  other  points 
being  equal.  The  Red  therefore  may  be  said  to  have  valuable  meat 
quality.  D.  O.  Barto,  in  charge  of  poultry  at  the  Illinois  Agricultural 
Station,  states  that  three  out  of  five  of  his  best  capons  are  Reds. 

Each  of  these  breeds  has  strong  vitality,  and  this  is  an  important 
matter,  because  there  cannot  be  high  fertility  in  the  eggs,  good 
"livability"  of  the  chicks,  sturdy  growth,  fleshing  qualities,  or  high 
egg  production  without  strong  constitutional  vigor. 


20  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

Specially  selected  meat  type.  In  the  development  of  a  strictly 
meat  type,  the  Plymouth  Rocks  generally  are  considered  as  possessing 
the  rather  greater  possibilities.  The  Plymouth  Rocks  have  competed 
with  the  most  formidable  of  the  Asiatic  sub-breeds,  namely,  the  Light 
Brahmas,  and  in  the  great  poultry  growing  section  of  eastern  Massa- 
chusetts the  Rock  has  displaced  the  Brahma  on  some  farms,  and  on 
some  others  the  two  are  crossbred  to  make  the  finest  capons  and  soft 
roasters. 

It  should  be  said,  however,  that  pure  Barred  and  White  Rocks  are 
extensively  used  down  the  shore  south  of  Boston,  where  the  famous 
South  Shore  roasters  are  grown.  These  roasting  chickens  consist 
both  of  caponized  cockerels  and  fat  pullets.  It  is  one  of  the  few 
places  in  the  world  where  pullets  are  grown  for  their  meat.  The 
general  run  of  South  Shore  roasters  weigh  from  eight  to  nine  pounds 
for  males  and  from  five  and  one-half  to  six  pounds  for  females. 
Not  infrequently  heavier  weights  are  obtained.  The  writer  has  han- 
dled a  pair  of  South  Shore  White  Rock  capons  that  weighed  twenty- 
two  pounds  four  ounces  and  were  said  to  be  nine  months  old.  There 
is  no  opportunity  for  milk-feeding  establishments  in  a  district  like 
this  where  the  birds  are  "grown  fat."  As  the  fowls  are  not  finished 
by  being  confined  and  crate-fed,  their  meat  is  relatively  firm,  yet  a 
certain  softness  results  from  the  rapid  growth. 

J.  H.  Curtiss,  of  Assinippi,  Massachusetts,  who  has  been  called 
the  "father  of  the  South  Shore,"  being  credited  with  having  started 
the  industry  there  about  1880  by  growing  the  best  poultry  that  he 
could,  has  strongly  recommended  the  White  Plymouth  Rock.  Said  he: 
"It  produces  a  golden  yellow  leg,  a  golden  yellow  bill,  and  as  high- 
colored  meat  as  any  fowl  in  the  world."  To  show  the  size  this  variety 
attains  and  the  satisfactory,  quick  growth  that  it  makes,  he  took  the 
carcass  of  a  White  Rock  capon  that  had  just  come  from  the  picking- 
room,  put  it  on  the  scales,  and  it  pulled  eleven  pounds  four  ounces. 
It  was  May  3,  and  the  bird  was  a  winter  chicken  eight  months  old, 
having  been  hatched  September  1. 

Henry  Dana  Smith,  of  Norwell,  Massachusetts,  an  extensive  grower 
of  roasting  chickens,  preferred  the  Barred  variety.  Commenting  on 
the  matter,  he  said:  "The  Barred  Rock  is  now  the  best  bird  on  the 
South  Shore.  I  have  found  that  on  the  same  feed  and  with  the  same 
care  the  Barreds  average  one-half  pound  more  than  the  Whites. 
Growing  five  thousand  roasters  a  year,  this  half  pound  means  twenty- 
five  hundred  pounds  of  high-priced  soft  roaster  meat  a  year."  Mr. 
Smith's  near  neighbor,  Joseph  Tolman,  keeps  White  Rocks,  and  thus 
the  matter  of  preference  runs.  Success  with  a  certain  kind  depends 
more  on  the  flock  or  strain  than  it  does  upon  breed  name. 

Plymouth  Rocks  on  the  South  Shore  which  are  most  desirable  as 
producers  of  roasting  chickens  are  of  Standard  weight  or  slightly 
heavier.  The  Rocks  of  the  midwest  farms  are  largely  grades,  and 
while  somewhat  under  Standard  weight,  as  a  rule  they  usually  are 


A    DUAL    PURPOSE   TYPE  21 

in  relatively  good  flesh,  and  if  fed  for  about  two  weeks  make  excellent 
milk-fed  poultry.  Stations  equipped  with  feeding  batteries  for  approxi- 
mately twelve  to  twenty  thousand  or  more  fowls  at  a  time  are  being 
established  over  the  Middle  West  and  some  parts  of  the  South.  The 
feeders  are  critical  of  the  type  of  fowls  the  farmers  grow.  They  want 
the  stock  to  possess  good  fleshing  qualities,  whether  young  or  old. 
The  American  breeds  are  the  favorite  with  them. 

Grading  up  the  size  of  the  farm  stock  through  the  use  of  purebred 
Plymouth  Rock  males.  It  is  not  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  farm 
fowls  of  the  country  owe  much  of  their  size  to  the  Barred  Plymouth 
Rock.  With  a  view  to  showing  the  breeding  value  of  a  purebred 
Plymouth  Rock  male  when  introduced  into  a  flock  of  nondescript, 


Grade  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks.  Three  generations  removed  from  mongrels. 
This  pair  is  the  result  of  grading  up  through  the  use  of  Purebred  Barred  Plymouth 
Rock  sires  on  the  poultry  farm  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

mongrel  hens,  an  experiment  was  conducted  on  the  Government 
Poultry  F'rm  at  Beltsville,  Maryland,  by  Harry  M.  Lamon,  senior 
poultryman,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  Robert  D. 
Slocum,  assistant  in  charge.  Some  typical  dunghill  hens  that  had 
come  from  the  farms  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  were  purchased  in 
the  Washington  market. 

A  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male  was  placed  in  the  first  pen.  He 
was  of  Standard  size  and  conformation.  The  pullets  from  him  when 
full  grown  weighed  5.63  pounds  each,  or  one  pound  six  ounces  more 
than  their  mongrel  dams.  The  next  year  these  grade  pullets  were 
also  bred  to  a  pure  Barred  Rock  male,  and  this  union  produced  pullets 
weighing  an  average  of  6.22  pounds  each.  In  other  words,  the  use  of 
purebred  sires  for  two  generations  had  brought  the  pullets  up  to. 

Standard  weights,    All  weights  were  taken  as  of  March  1, 


22  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

A  White  Plymouth  Rock  male  was  used  on  the  pen  of  mongrels 
that  averaged  4.33  pounds.  The  first  cross  produced  pullets  that 
weighed  5.68  pounds  each.  , 

It  is  well  known  that  they  have  fine  coops  on  the  government 
farm,  and  that,  in  addition  to  splendid  housing  and  range,  Uncle  Sam 
is  a  good  provider  and  his  chickens  have  the  best  of  feed,  in  the  right 
proportion,  and  plenty  of  it.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  to  ask  Mr. 
Slocum,  who  had  charge  of  this  breeding  experiment,  if  the  increase 
in  weight  was  partly  the  result  of  the  young  stock  of  each  cross  being 
full  fed;  that  is,  given  all  the  nourishing  food  required  to  make  bone, 
muscle  and  feathers,  or  whether  the  increase  in  size  from  generation 
to  generation  was  altogether  clue  to  the  birds  growing  bigger  because 
it  was  within  their  nature  to  grow  bigger  as  a  result  of  the  employ- 
ment of  Plymouth  Rock  blood.  Mr.  Slocum  replied:  "I  attribute  this 
increase  in  weight  entirely  to  the  infusion  of  the  Plymouth  Rock 
blood.  Work  carried  on  with  the  use  of  mongrel  males  leads  to  this 
conclusion." 

Buyers  of  market  poultry  prefer  the  American  breeds.  The  buyers 
of  market  poultry  throughout  the  Middle  West  encourage  the  keep- 
ing of  the  American  breeds  because  of  the  satisfactory  size  attained  by 
the  mature  specimens.  In  some  places  a  premium  of  two.  three  cr  even 
four  cents  a  pound  is  paid  for  hens  that  weigh  from  four  to  four  and 
one-half  pounds  and  up;  in  other  words,  hens  that  weigh  less  than 
four  pounds  bring  two  to  four  cents  a  pound  less  than  the  heavy  sizes. 
In  explanation  of  this  price  schedule,  Stanley  Wyckoff,  president  of 
the  Indianapolis  Poultry  Company,  writes: 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  sell  small  sizes  that  dress  out  under  four  pounds, 
except  at  a  loss,  as  the  average  family  does  not  wish  to  buy  a  chicken  under  four 
pounds  for  a  roast  or  stewing  purposes ;  and  small  sizes  are  neglected  by  hotel,  cafe 
and  dining-car  trade,  as  they  positively  will  not  purchase  any  fowl  under  four  and 
one-half  pounds,  and  prefer  five-pound  stock,  as  it  is  more  economical  for  slicing.  The 
canning  trade  that  puts  up  chicken  soup  will  not  use  small  fowl  even  at  a  discount, 
as  they  say  it  is  not  economical  in  comparison  with  the  amount  of  meat  that  can  be 
taken  off,  in  comparing  the  .frame  with  larger  sizes. 

When  H.  C.  Pierce,  now  of  the  United  States  Foo«"  Research 
Laboratory,  was  working  for  his  master's  degree  at  Cornell,  1907, 
he  made  up  a  table  showing  the  proportion  of  edible  meat  to  the 
dressed  weight,  and  the  breeds  made  the  following  showing:  Barred 
Plymouth  Rock,  74  percent;  White  Wyandotte,  72  percent;  Buff 
Orpington,  69  percent;  White  Leghorn,  66  percent. 

This  means  that  one  hundred  pounds  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks 
carry  eight  pounds  more  edible  meat  than  one  hundred  pounds  of 
White  Leghorns.  It  also  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  the  buyer  kills 
and  dresses  two  three-pound  hens  to  get  four  pounds  of  edible  meat, 
whereas  he  kills  and  dresses  one  six-pound  hen  to  get  approximately 
four  and  one-half  pounds  of  edible  meat.  The  double  cost  of  handling 
the  small  sizes  adds  materially  to  the  operating  expense.  It  there- 


A    DUAL    PURPOSE   TYPE  23 

fore   follows   that   live   poultry   buyers   and   shippers   are   enthusiastic 
about  maintaining  the  general  purpose  breeds  at  Standard  weights. 

As  egg  producers.  While  breeders  as  a  rule  are  partial  to  the 
breed  of  their  choice,  and  on  every  occasion  champion  that  breed  with 
pardonable  enthusiasm,  it  usually  is  conceded  by  authorities  who 
have  a  broad  view  of  the  entire  field  of  breeds  that  the  Single  Comb 
White  Leghorn,  taking  all  the  specimens  of  the  race  as  you  find  them 
on  the  commercial  egg  farms  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  eastern 


Four  of  the  high  laying  females  in  White  Wyandottes,  R.  I.  Reds, 
Barred  Rocks  and  White  Leghorns  at  the  1919  International  Egg 
Laying  competition,  Connecticut  Agricultural  College. 

Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut,  is  the  more  fool-proof  laying  type  and 
the  somewhat  more  economical  consumer  of  feed.  However,  when 
the  American  breeds  are  bred  for  egg  production,  that  is,  when  an 
intelligent  effort  is  made  to  regulate  the  type  and  tendencies  of  the 
progeny  by  carefully  selecting  the  parent  stock,  hens  and  pullets  of 
the  American  breeds  may  be  depended  upon  to  make  a  creditable 
showing  in  the  egg-laying  competitions,  and  it  frequently  does  happen 
that  a  pen  of  these  birds  wins  the  championship  prize. 

The  records  made  by  four  breeds  at  the   sixth  egg-laying  contest 
conducted  at  the  Missouri  Poultry  Experiment  Station,  which  covered 


*  1 


A    DUAL    PURPOSE   TYPE 


25 


a  period  of  one  year,  November,  1916,  to  November,  1917,  show  the 
ability  of  highly  egg-bred  fowls  of  the  American  birds  as  layers  along- 
side of  the  highly  specialized  Leghorn: 

All  Rhode  Island  Reds  averaged  188  eggs  each. 

All  Wyandottes  averaged  184  eggs  each. 

All  Leghorns  averaged  178  eggs  each. 

All  Plymouth  Rocks  averaged  175  eggs  each. 

The  silver  cup  for  highest  production  went  to  a  pen  of  White 
Wyandottes  owned  by  J.  F.  Jordan,  Missouri.  This  pen  of  five  females 
laid  216,  245,  269,  273  and  213  eggs,  respectively,  a  total  of  1,226 
eggs  for  the  year,  or  an  average  egg  production  of  245  for  each 
female  in  the  pen,  the  highest  average  which  had  been  made  at  the 
Missouri  station  up  to  that  time.* 

At  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  of  Connecticut,  where  the 
widely  advertised  eastern  competition  known  as  the  International  Egg 
Laying  Contest  is  held,  the  American  breeds  have  made  fine  records 
from  month  to  month,  year  after  year.  The  report  of  the  fifth  annual 
contest  (Bulletin  89,  February,  1917)  gives  some  interesting  data  on 
birds  of  different  breeds,  from  which  the  following  table  is  made  up: 


Number 
of  Hens 

Eggs 
per  Bird 

Weight 
per  Dozen, 
ounces 

Percent 
of  Birds 
Broody 

Average 
Weight, 
pounds 

Feed  Cost, 
Averaga 
Pen 

Plymouth  Rocks    . 
Wyandottes  .   .  . 
R  I   Reds      .  .  .  . 

170 
170 
210 

160.4 
169.6 
158  7 

26.4 
23.5 
24.4 

44.4 
57.6 
65.6 

5.97 
5.12 
5.73 

$20.72 
18.68 
19.93 

White  Leghorns  . 
Miscellaneous  .  .  . 

350 
100 

165.4 

147.2 

23.8 

24.3 

13.6 

38.7 

3.70 

4.24 

17.48 

18.34 

Four  birds  that  made  high  records  in  the  principal  varieties  at 
the  contest  (1919)  are  illustrated  on  page  23.  The  White  Wyandotte 
in  the  upper  left  corner  laid  238  eggs,  and  she  was  the  high  bird  for 
all  the  Wyandottes.  The  Rhode  Island  Red,  to  the  right,  laid  258 
eggs  and  was  the  high  bird  of  this  breed.  The  Barred  Rock  laid 
235  eggs  and  was  in  the  pen  that  won  the  contest.  The  White  Leg- 
horn made  a  production  of  213  eggs,  having  laid  sixty-four  days 
without  a  miss.  (The  highest  White  Leghorn  record  for  the  year 
was  260  eggs.)  The  high  pen  for  1919  was  composed  of  ten  Barred 
Rock  pullets  which  laid  2,022  eggs,  or  an  average  of  202  eggs  per  bird. 


*These  figures  are  taken  from  the  official  report  of  the  station;  however,  if  the 
egg  yield  of  the  five  hens  is  added,  it  will  be  found  that  the  total  is  1,216  eggs  instead 
of  1,226,  as  reported,  and  this  error  appears  to  be  explicable  only  by  the  assumption 
that  during  the  year  ten  eggs  were  laid  on  the  floor  of  the  house  a.nd  were  not 
credited  to  any  individual  hen, 


26  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

The  best  pen  of  White  Leghorns  finished  the  year  with  a  record  of 
1,867  eggs.  The  records  of  the  eight  years  since  the  inception  of  this 
contest  show  White  Leghorns  to  have  been  the  winners  in  1912,  1913 
and  1914,  White  Wyandottes  in  1915  and  1916,  Barred  Rocks  in  1917 
and  1919,  and  Professor  James  Dryden's  "Oregons"  in  1918. 

It  is  fair  to  state,  and  it  should  be  understood  thoroughly  by  the 
beginner,  that  the  specimens  entered  in  egg  contests  are  specially 
bred  for  eggs,  selected  for  the  competition  because  they  develop  into 
active,  thrifty  pullets,  and  these  birds  are  then  fed  throughout  the 
test  on  a  ration  that  supplies  in  abundant  quantity  and  proper  pro- 
portions the  complete  food  nutrients  necessary  to  make  complete  eggs. 

Prepotent  eggbred  males  to  grade  up  the  farm  flock  for  egg  pro- 
duction. There  is  a  growing  demand  among  farmers  for  purebred 
males  that  have  "the  lay"  bred  in  them,  to  use  in  grading  up  their 
farm  flocks.  These  males  are  wanted  for  the  purpose  of  gearing  up 
the  egg-producing  abilities  of  farm  flocks,  the  same  as  Holstein  bulls 
are  used  to  grade  up  the  milk-giving  capacity  of  farm  cattle.  The 
whole  tendency  is  toward  higher  average  production  of  the  animals 
on  the  farms.  Increased  land  values  on  which  interest  must  be  earned, 
increased  wages  and  scarcity  of  help  to  care  for  the  livestock,  in- 
creased value  of  grain  that  is  fed,  increased  selling  prices  for  animal 
products,  all  combine  to  make  it  increasingly  plain  to  the  farmer  that 
two  efficient  animals  are  more  economical  to  own,  care  for  and  feed 
than  three  inefficient  ones. 

It  is  sound  policy  for  the  farmer  to  grade  up  his  flock  for  egg 
production  by  employing  purebred  males  of  high  producing  strains. 
The  practice  of  grading  in  cattle  and  hogs  is  becoming  general  and  is 
recognized  by  all  livestock  men  as  the  cheapest  and  quickest  way  of 
making  improvement. 

Grading  up  the  farm  flock  of  chickens  through  the  purchase  and 
introduction  of  Standardbred  males  will  broaden  the  outlet  for  good 
poultry.  The  time  was  when  there  had  to  be  a  White  Wyandotte 
fancy  if  there  was  to  be  trade  in  White  Wyandottes,  for  breeders 
could  only  sell  their  surplus  stock  and  eggs  to  other  breeders.  The 
same  was  true  of  Barred  Rocks,  Golden  Polish  and  Silver  Sebrights. 
However,  the  tima  has  come  to  put  the  utility  breeds  to  their  greatest 
usefulness  by  getting  them  out  more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the 
people  who  actually  are  producing  the  eggs  and  poultry  for  human 
consumption.  The  opportunity  is  here  for  purebred  poultry  on  the 
farms  to  justify  itself  from  an  economic  standpoint.  There  is  no 
basic  reason  for  the  existence  and  extension  of  purebred  poultry  in 
preference  to  scrubs,  unless  purebred  stock  represents  a  more  depend- 
ably useful  and  more  truly  valuable  type  of  fowl. 

In  1912  the  Kansas  Agricultural  College  asked  the  question:  "Will 
cockerels  from  high  producing  families  of  various  practical  breeds 
improve  farmers'  flocks  quickly  and  effectively?"  Experiments  were 
begun  with  a  view  to  getting  a  definite  answer  to  the  question.  Ten 


A   DUAL    PURPOSE   TYPE  2; 

mongrel  pullets  that  had  come  from  Kansas  farms  were  mated  to  an 
eggbred  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male.  His  dam  had  a  record  of  232 
eggs.  The  egg  production  of  the  mongrels  was  98  eggs;  of  their  grade 
pullets,  132  eggs.  These  grade  pullets  were  now  mated  to  another 
purebred  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male  whose  dam  was  the  same 
232-egg  hen.  The  pullets  resulting  from  this  second  infusion  of  pure- 
bred blood  laid  150  eggs.  These  pullets  were  in  turn  mated  to  a 
Barred  Rock  male  of  eggbred  stock  but  without  pedigree,  and  the 
pullets  so  produced  averaged  156  eggs  each.  In  this  last  lot  of  pullets 
one  laid  248,  one  250  and  one  260  eggs  within  the  year. 

In  commenting  on  the  experiments  at  the  Kansas  station  to 
increase  egg  production  by  breeding,  Professor  William  A.  Lippin- 
cott  says: 

Systematic  breeding  for  egg  production  is  still  in  its  infancy.  Desirable  cockerels 
from  the  production  standpoint  undoubtedly  are  more  numerous  now  than  when  this 
investigation  was  begun,  and  are  becoming  more  numerous  each  year.  But  record- 
keeping  breeders  are  still  too  few,  and  unscrupulous  promoters  who  advertise  200-egg 
strains,  without  even  using  trapnests,  are,  unfortunately,  too  many. 

Purebred  birds  for  egg  production.  The  breeder  who  wishes  to 
specialize  in  egg  production  ordinarily  will  reach  his  goal  much  more 
quickly  by  breeding  within  the  breed,  that  is,  by  making  selections 
within  a  purebred  flock  rather  than  by  crossing  breeds.  Professor 
James  Dryden,  after  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  poultry  experience, 
recently  has  succeeded  in  making  a  cross  which  he  has  called 
"Oregons,"  and  these  birds  have  come  into^  the  limelight  by  making 
splendid  egg  records  not  only  at  the  Oregon  Agricultural  College, 
where  they  were  originated,  but  also  in  the  Connecticut  and  Missouri 
egg  contests,  although  they  have  not  proved  superior  to  the  estab- 
lished breeds.  The  breeder  who  stays  within  a  breed  will  find  that 
he  has  the  benefit  of  established  breed  character  and  does  not  have 
to  contend  with  a  diversity  of  new  and  troublesome  factors  that  not 
uncommonly  arise  when  breeds  are  crossed.  Moreover,  late  reports 
indicate  that  there  is  no  particular  permanency  to  the  value  of  the 
"Oregons"  as  egg  producers.  At  the  International  Contest  starting 
November  1,  1919,  and  covering  the  six  winter  months  up  to  May  7, 
1920,  two  pens  of  Barred  Rocks,  two  of  Rhode  Island  Reds,  one  of 
Rhode  Island  Whites,  and  two  pens  of  White  Leghorns  each  laid 
over  one  thousand  eggs,  or  an  average  of  one  hundred  eggs  per  bird 
during  the  six  months,  while  a  pen  of  ten  "Oregons"  laid  711  eggs. 

There  are  those  who  believe  that  all  flocks  or  strains  should  be 
developed  along  the  line  of  pronounced  egg-laying  propensities.  This 
would  amount  to  these  strains  of  specialized  fowls  practically  absorb- 
ing the  breed.  While  the  author  earnestly  subscribes  to  the  recom- 
mendation that  more  and  more  thought  should  be  given  by  fanciers 
to  the  potential  egg-laying  capabilities  of  their  fowls,  he  believes  that 
specialized  strains  for  egg  production  should  be  developed  within  the 
breed  and  that  they  should  not  absorb  the  breed.  We  must  not  lose 


28  THE   AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

sight  of  the  two-purpose  type  in  our  American  breeds.  It  is  yet  to 
be  demonstrated  that  the  very  best  meat  and  egg  qualities  can  be 
developed  in  the  same  individual,  and  until  it  shall  have  been  proved 
that  the  one  temperament  does  not  strive  against  the  other,  and  that 
the  280-egg  hen  not  only  produces  Standardweight  pullets  but  gets 
cockerels  that  at  the  proper  age  will  dress  off  as  large,  well  meated 
capons,  it  is  inadvisable  to  put  emphasis  on  one  quality  alone,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  other,  in  so  far  as  the  breed  as  a  whole  is  concerned. 

Effect  of  heavy  laying  on  breeding  power.  Poultry  breeders  as  a 
class  have  been  criticized  for  not  establishing  production  records  as 
have  the  breeders  of  dairy  cattle.  The  hen  usually  is  associated  with 
the  dairy  cow,  both  being  producers.  However,  in  arguing  the 
validity  of  his  position  in  not  going  in  for  high  records  in  all  his 
breeding  females,  the  practical  poultry. fancier  may  point  out  a  differ- 
ence between  the  hen  and  the  cow. 

The  cow  bears  her  young  alive,  while  the  hen  lays  an  egg  from 
which  the  young  is  hatched  outside  her  body.  The  egg  contains  some 
sustenance  in  the  form  of  yolk,  which  is  absorbed  into  the  intestines 
just  before  the  chick  is  hatched  and  serves  as  the  young's  first  food; 
but  the  'egg  also  contains  all  the  material  necessary  to  make  the 
chick — its  blood,  muscles,  cartilage  that  later  will  Harden  into  bone, 
scales  on  its  shanks,  down  on  its  body,  etc.  When  you  breed  to 
increase  milk  production  you  breed  to  increase  the  sustenance  that 
the  mother  is  to  supply  to  her  young;  when  you  breed  to  increase 
egg  production  you  breed  to  increase  the  vital  process  of  reproduction. 
It  seems  true  that  a  hen  may  lay  in  excess  of  her  own  strength,  in 
which  case  she  is  unable  to  impart  to  her  pullets  that  vitality  which 
is  necessary  if  they  are  to  equal  the  egg  record  of  their  dam.  It  is 
on  this  ground  that  some  practical  breeders  maintain  that  what  may 
be  termed  a  high  normal  layer  is  the  surer  breeder. 

There  is  a  diversity  of  opinion  on  this  matter,  and  data  on  experi- 
mental breeding  at  the  federal  and  state  experiment  stations  are  not 
yet  sufficient  to  influence  the  majority  of  fanciers.  Thomas  E.  Quisen- 
berry,  founder  of  the  American  School  of  Poultry  Husbandry,  and 
for  a  time  in  charge  of  the  work  at  the  Missouri  Poultry  Experiment 
Station,  writes: 

We  had  at  the  station  one  hen  which  laid  286  eggs,  and  we  incubated  every  one 
of  them  and  were  able  to  hatch  only  one  chick,  and  that  was  a  pullet.  This  pullet 
since  that  time  has  not  laid  enough  eggs  to  half  way  pay  her  feed  bill.  I  believe 
laying  will  in  most  cases  affect  the  vitality  of  a  hen  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
chicks  are  liable  to  be  weak,  but  this  is  not  always  the  case.  I  have  found  a  good 
many  hens  that  were  able  to  lay  between  250  and  300  eggs,  and  the  greater  percent- 
age were  fertile  and  many  of  them  hatched  strong,  healthy  chicks.  My  contention 
is  that  when  a  breeder  finds  such  a  hen  he  should  keep  her  and  endeavor  to  build  up 
a  strain  or  family  of  such  producers. 

Harry  R.  Lewis,  professor  of  poultry  husbandry,  New  Jersey 
Agricultural  College,  handles  the  subject  in  a  conclusive,  way  and 


A   DUAL   PURPOSE  TYPE 


29 


definitely   states   that   high   egg  production   is   not   carried   on   at  the 
expense  of  breeding  power.     He  writes: 

We  have  no  evidence  to  show  that  heavy  egg  production  in  a  normal,  healthy 
bird  will  exhaust  her  strength  and  vitality.  There  are,  of  course,  many  hens  that 
fail  to  stand  up  under  production,  but  invariably  we  find  their  failure  is  due  to  a 
general  lack  of  vitality  and  inherent  vigor.  We  have  made  a  careful  study  of  fertility 
and  hatchability  as  correlated  to  egg  production,  and  we  find  absolutely  no  relation 
between  heavy  and  poor  fertility  and  low  hatchability.  In  other  words,  we  find  just 
as  much  poor  fertility  and  low  hatchability  from  low  producers  as  from  high  pro- 
ducers. We  quite  frequently  find  that  pullets  from  high  producing  hens  do  not 
produce  nearly  as  well  as  their  dams,  which,  of  course,  is  just  what  we  expect  through 
the  influence  of  Mendelian  segregation  of  characters  in  the  progeny.  In  other  words, 
if  a  hen  and  the  male  to  which  she  is  mated  are  high  for  production,  we  conse- 
quently get  pullets,  all  of  which  are  high  producers.  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  are 
impure  for  high  production — or,  expressed  another  way,  impure  for  winter  produc- 
tion— we  get  progeny  representing  various  degrees  of  production. 

The  method  of  inheritance  of  fecundity,  or  the  laying  tendency,  is 
discussed  in  Chapter  III. 


Farm  Flock  of  Purebred  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks. 

On  the  farms.  The  type  that  makes  good  as  a  farm  fowl  is  the 
dual  type.  While  in  especially  bred  strains  of  the  American  breeds 
either  egg  or  meat  values  may  be  developed  to  a  point  where  the 
stock  is  comparable  with  that  of  highly  specialized  breeds,  in  the 
last  analysis  it  will  be  found  that  it  is  a  satisfactory  combination  of 
the  two  prooerties  as  found  in  the  American  breeds  that  makes  them 
a  well  balanced  type  for  general  purposes.  There  are  those  who  will 


30  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

say  that  they  are  interested  not  primarily  but  first  and  last  in  eggs. 
The  farmer,  however,  who  takes  up  a  highly  specialized  egg  breed 
may  not  long  keep  it  pure,  because  of  its  inferior  size.  He  is  prone 
to  cross  large  males  on  such  stock,  that  he  may  get  as  much  potential 
capacity  for  size  as  possible  in  each  chick  that  is  hatched.  Therefore 
it  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  the  type  which  possesses  table  quality 
will  fall  into  disregard  and  be  succeeded  by  any  other  fowl. 

To  determine  the  present  and  future  place  of  the  American  breeds, 
our  facts  must  be  sufficiently  diversified  and  the  scope  of  our  vision 
sufficiently  extensive  to  enable  us  to  understand  the  requirements  of 
those  who  have  adopted  this  type  and  to  see  something  of  the  con- 
ditions under  which  their  fowls  are  grown.  This  means  that  we 
consider  the  economic  aspects  of  the  poultry  industry  and  note  the 
place  that  American  breeds  occupy  in  the  permanent  agriculture  of 
the  country. 

The  popularity  of  the  dual  type  is  rooted  in  the  best  systems  ot 
general  farming.  Under  such  conditions  a  diversity  of  crops  are 
produced,  and  poultry  is  a  relatively  minor  enterprise  on  the  farm. 
Approximately  ninety-five  percent  of  the  poultry  and  eggs  that  enter 
trade  channels  and  are  consumed  as  foe  1  by  the  population,  are  pro- 
duced on  the  general  farms  of  the  country. 

A  great  deal  is  written  about  intensive  poultry  farms  where  eggs 
or  poultry  meat  is  almost  a  single  product,  but,  after  all,  the  gross 
production  of  all  these  plants  is  a  small  item  in  the  market.  The 
north  central  geographical  district,  for  example,  comprising  the  twelve 
states  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
North  and  South  Dakota,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  report, 
according  to  the  1910  census,  54.3  percent  of  all  the  fowls  in  the 
United  States,  and  52.7  percent  of  the  entire  annual  egg  production. 
In  other  words,  of  the  280,345,133  chickens  on  the  farms  of  the  United 
States,  144,664,064,  or  more  than  half  are  to  be  found  in  the  upper 
Mississippi  Valley;  and  on  these  same  broad  acres  is  to  be  found  the 
range  from  which  the  hens  glean  a  large  part  of  the  food  for  their 
yield  of  784,804,653  dozens  of  eggs,  or  more  than  half  of  the  country's 
annual  production  of  1,457,385,772  dozens. 

These  twelve  states,  containing  about  one-third  of  the  population 
and  producing  one-half  of  the  poultry  products,  furnish  an  excess  to 
be  consumed  in  sections  like  the  middle  Atlantic  and  New  England 
states,  which,  with  28  percent  of  the  population,  produce  13.5  percent 
of  the  eggs.  Illinois  alone  produces  about  one  hundred  million  dozens 
of  eggs  a  year,  and  of  this  number  there  were  shipped  in  the  months  of 
March,  April,  May  and  June,  1918,  to  the  four  great  consuming  centers 
of  Chicago,  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  1,017,712  cases  of 
eggs,  each  case  containing  thirty  dozen.  This  is  farm  poultry  pro- 
duction. Each  of  the  states  of  Ohio,  Iowa  and  Missouri  also  produce 
approximately  one  hundred  million  dozens  annually. 

Dual  purpose  type  fits  into  general  farming.     Poultry  culture  on 


A   DUAL   PURPOSE  TYPE  31 

the  farms  is  not  a  specialized  business.  The  growing  fowls  get  some 
food  that  has  a  marketable  value,  to  be  sure,  but  they  also  consume  a 
large  amount  that  otherwise  would  be  waste;  and  some  of  the  care 
and  attention  bestowed  upon  them  would  otherwise  be  unpaid  labor. 
As  an  example  of  farm  poultry  culture,  the  case  may  be  cited  of 
Mrs.  Homer  Caton,  McLean  County,  Illinois,  who  reported  1,224  eggs 
from  sixty-four  White  Plymouth  Rocks  in  the 'month  of  April,  1919. 
The  birds  were  on  the  range  'of  a  general  farm  where  some  cattle 
were  kept,  and  the  chickens  were  not  fed  except  during  the  winter 
months. 

Compared  to  where  the  pojultry  operations  have  been  intensified 
to  the  point  of  a  one-product:  plant,  there  is  in  the  case  of  farm 
poultrykeeping  more  of  what  would  be  waste  feed  and  unremunerated 
labor  and  there  is  less  capital,  invested  in  buildings  and  equipment. 
On  the  general  farm  there  may  be  a  four-horsepower  engine  that  c^n 
be  used  to  grind  alfalfa  for  the  poultry  mash  or  to  crush  grain;  there 
may  be  screenings  after  the  seed  wheat  is  fanned;  there  may  be 
straw  to  use  in  the  scratch  shed.  In  other  words,  on  a  diversified 
farm  the  poultry  enterprise  links  up  with  other  departments.  More- 
over, the  poultry  and  livestock  in  general  are  linked  up  with  the 
growing  of  crops;  there  is  a  balance  existing  between  the  feed  that 
is  grown  and  the  animals  that  are  kept;  in  feeding  animals,  the  farmer 
is  not  dependent  on  feed  shipped  from  a  distance,  but  has  the  advan- 
tage of  feed  at  farmers'  prices. 

The  farmer  finds  that  the  large  type  of  fowl  makes  the  more  profit- 
able use  of  the  feed  and  conditions  under  which  it  is  grown  and 
maintained;  its  tendency  to  size  provides  more  potential  "raw  mate- 
rial" in  each  chick  that  is  hatched;  and  if  there  is  good  egg-laying 
power  combined  with  the  liberal  size,  the  type  is  bound  to  be  popular 
with  him.  This  is  in  line  with  the  well  established  policy  among 
farmers  to  select  the  larger  dairy  animals  within  the  breed.  The  most 
widely  distributed  dairy  breed,  the  Holstein,  as  bred  in  its  native 
country,  Holland,  is  reputed  to  produce  the  best  veal  to  be  secured 
on  the  Continent;  and  the  breed  has  won  its  reputation  in  America 
partly  because  of  its  value  in  terms  of  meat  when  ultimately  it 
reaches  the  block.  The  milking  Shorthorn  today  is  enjoying  the 
greatest  popularity  that  it  has  enjoyed  in  a  generation,  and  the 
increased  demand  for  such  dual  purpose  cows  is  a  demand  for  more 
efficient  animals  to  convert  into  meat  and  milk  what  the  economist 
calls  waste  feed  and  unproductive  labor. 

The  future  for  the  dual  purpose  type.  We  may  expect  to  see  more 
hens  and  more  dairy  cows  kept  as  population  increases.  The  secre- 
tary of  agriculture  has  stated  that  we  should  count  on  an  increase  in 
the  population  of  the  United  States  of  one  million  a  year  for  the  next 
decade.  Increased  population  inevitably  means  more  labor  and  propor- 
tionately less  land.  Following  this  condition,  in  the  older  countries  of 
Europe,  chickens  and  dual  purpose  cattle  have  maintained  themselves 


32 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


A    Nine-Wedk-Old    Rhode    Island    Red    Chick, 
Well   Developed   For   Its   Age. 


and  increased  with  the  popu- 
lation at  the  expense  of  other 
classes  of  livestock.  Beef  ani- 
mals alone  cannot  subsist  and 
increase  in  numbers  when  an 
increasing  population  inevi- 
tably requires  that  from  year 
to  year  the  products  of  the 
land  be  more  and  more  in- 
tensively produced.  This,  of 
course,  is  a  view  into  the 
future. 

At  present  a  large  part  of 
the  farm  crops  are  produced 
especially  as  a  food  for  ani- 
mals. 

Of  the  corn  grown,  over 
ninety  percent  is  fed  to  ani- 
mals, and  they  consume  all 
of  the  stover,  for  corn  is  pri- 
marily a  food  for  animals; 
they  consume  seventy  per- 
cent of  the  oats,  and  thirty 
percent  of  the  wheat  returns 
to  the  farms  as  bran  and  middlings.  The  pasture  and  hay  crops  are 
much  larger  than  the  cereal  crops,  and  animals  alone  afford  a  means 
of  marketing  them.  Livestock,  therefore,  follows  crop  production  as 
a  natural  sequence. 

It  takes  about  one  hundred  pounds  of  feed  to  produce  twenty 
pounds  of  meat,  regardless  of  the  kind  of  animal.  Meat  is  a  high 
form  of  nourishment  for  human  consumption.  While  a  great  wealth 
of  plant  products  is  directly  available  to  man,  both  in  abundant  quan- 
tity and  appetizing  form,  the  fact  is  that  half  his  diet  consists  of 
foods  of  animal  origin.  The  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  statistics 
show  that  in  the  city  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  for  instance,  during  the  year 
ended  March  31,  1918,  the  average  family  of  the  207  families  investi- 
gated in  the  shipbuilding  district  where  data  were  collected,  spent 
$605.17  for  food,  of  which  $303.24  was  for  meat  products,  excluding  fish. 
Economical  producers.  Animals  such  as  cattle,  hogs  and  hens  bear 
an  intermediate  relation  between  plants  and  man,  and  foods  of  animal 
origin  are  more  costly  and  valuable  than  foods  of  vegetable  origin, 
because  the  production  of  the  former  involves  the  use  of  the  latter. 
Therefore,  the  economy  with  which  animals  produce  is  of  ever  great 
importance.  The  hen  and  the  cow  are  entitled  to  first  position  in  the 
ranks  as  economical  producers.  Unlike  beef  cattle  or  hogs,  they  are 
not  designed  especially  as  a  laboratory  to  convert  fields  of  corn  or 
acres  of  grass  into  a  marketable  product,  beef  and  pork,  by  which 


A    DUAL    PURPOSE   TYPE  33 

the  farmer  can  market  his  labor  and  crop  in  a  condensed  form;  the 
hen  and  the  cow  are  wise  provisions  of  nature  to  utilize  and  trans- 
form much  of  what  would  be  unmarketable  grain  and  pasture  into  a 
high  form  of  nourishment,  eggs  and  milk,  and  then  render  up  their 
carcasses  for  food. 

In  addition  to  that  economy  which  makes  dairy  cattle  and  chickens 
a  part  of  permanent  agriculture,  the  products  of  these  animals  are 
particularly  valuable  because  they  are  well  balanced  foods.  The 
price  of  meat  cannot  be  compared  to  the  price  of  eggs,  because  they 
are  dissimilar  products,  meat  being  defective  in  ash  and  low  in 
vitamines.  Eggs  have  satisfactory  proteins  and,  like  milk,  are  satis- 
factory in  ash  or  minerals,  also  in  vitamines,  which  are  necessary  to 
growth  and  health.  In  cooking,  there  is  no  substitute  for  an  egg  any 
more  than  there  is  a  substitute  for  wheat.  The  chemical  analysis  of 
another  grain  may  show  as  many  calories,  but  if  the  gluten  is  not 
of  the  same  kind,  it  makes  a  crumbly  bread  instead  of  a  light  bread. 
The  albumen  of  the  egg  serves  about  the  same  purpose  in  cooking. 
Thus,  taking  it  all  in  all,  considering  the  place  of  the  hen  on  the  farm 
and  the  value  of  her  product,  it  is  evident  that  chickens  are  in  a  class 
by  themselves,  and  no  one  can  fairly  doubt  of  the  future. 

Demand  for  poultry  products.  It  is  not  necessary  to  urge  the 
farmers  of  the  country  to  take  up  poultrykeeping.  They  already  have 
poultry,  they  know  something  of  its  possibilities,  and  they  are  becom- 
ing more  and  more  interested  in  better  stock  and  better  methods,  for 
they  perceive  the  dawn  of  a  new  opportunity  which  is  based  on  a 
new  price  level  for  poultry  and  eggs,  and  a  demand  so  wide  that  the 
products  are  always  staple. 

It  is  interesting  to  contemplate  how  enormously  poultry  produc- 
tion can  be  expanded  by  these  country  producers,  not  as  a  result  of 
more  labor  and  a  materially  increased  cost  of  maintenance,  but  by 
employing  sound  stock  and  giving  the  birds  more  thoughtful  care. 
Missouri  furnishes  an  example  of  what  grading  the  hens  and  intelli- 
gently directed  effort  on  the  part  of  the  caretaker  will  accomplish. 
According  to  the  census,  the  farm  hens  of  Missouri  lay  an  average  of 
sixty-four  eggs  a  year.  The  State  Agricultural  College  at  Columbia 
sent  a  man  out  into  the  state  to  arrange  with  some  Missouri  farmers 
to  put  into  practice  such  recommendations  as  the  college  could  offer 
on  poultrykeeping,  and  the  recommendations  were  put  into  practice 
and  the  work  carried  through  on  twenty-four  farms  in  thirteen  coun- 
ties. The  average  egg  yield  on  those  farms  was  a  fraction  over  one 
hundred  eggs  per  hen  for  the  year,  or  three  dozen  more  than  the 
state-wide  average.  What  does  this  mean?  If  the  farm  hens  of 
Missouri  could  be  made  to  lay  only  one  more  egg  per  hen  per  year, 
and  that  egg  could  be  sold  in  December  at  five  cents,  there  would 
be  an  increased  return  of  one  million  dollars  to  farmers  of  the  state. 

Successful  poultrykeeping  is  not  limited  to  the  more  fertile  and 
rich  sections.  It  is,  in  fact,  of  relatively  more  importance  in  the 


34  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

poorer  sections:  than  on  the  rich  brown-silt  loam  of  the  corn  belt. 
A  grain  crop  failure  does  not  seriously  hamper  poultry  operations, 
which  would  be  the  case  if  larger  quantities  of  feed  were  required  as 
for  beef  cattle,  hogs,  etc.  Poultry  is  one  of  the  things  with  which 
the  people  in  the  poorer  sections  can  do  well.  There  are  counties  in 
southern  Illinois  where  the  receipts  from  the  sale  of  poultry  and  eggs 
per  acre  of  cultivated  ground  are  three  times  what  they  are  per  culti- 
vated acre  in  some  of  the  rich  northern  counties. 

The  farm  management  office  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  made  a  five-year  survey  on  twenty-five  southeastern  Ohio 
hill  farms  and  found  that  the  receipts  from  the  sale  of  poultry  and 
eggs  formed  the  second  largest  source  of  income  on  those  farms, 
amounting  to  more  than  the  receipts  from  any  other  source  except 
cattle.  It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that  the  farms 
keeping  from  200  to  330  hens  reported  16  percent  more  net  profit 
per  hen  than  those  keeping  60  to  100  hens.  Undoubtedly,  this  greater 
income  from  the  larger  flocks  is  to  be  accounted  for  on  the  ground 
that  where  the  poultry  enterprise  was  developed,  more  attention  natu- 
rally was  directed  to  the  facilities  of  housing,  proper  feed  and  care,  as 
well  as  to  the  quality  of  stock  kept. 

When  a  man  realizes  the  importance  of  good  care,  he  begins  to 
want  good  stock  on  which  to  bestow  his  care  and  attention.  It  is  so 
with  a  man  whom  we  met  recently.  He  had  wintered  eighty-six 
Rhode  Island  Red  hens  and  in  the  month  of  January  had  sold  $53.66 
worth  of  eggs  from  those  hens.  He  had  purchased  two  males  at 
$5  each  to  head  his  flock  and  was  so  pleased  with  them  that  he  asked 
the  writer  to  buy  four  females  for  about  $20  to  mate  to  one  of  the 
cockerels.  He  wanted  something  better  than  he  had.  On  another 
farm  in  Vermilion  County,  Illinois,  where  250  Rhode  Island  Red 
females  were  wintered,  there  were  sold  an  average  of  $21  worth  of 
eggs  per  week  throughout  the  months  of  December,  January  and 
February,  1918-1919.  It  was  the  first  time  that  this  owner  ever  had 
given  attention  to  the  chickens.  It  was  easy  for  him  to  invest  $76  in 
good  quality  males  from  two  of  the  best  breeders  in  the  Middle  West 
for  the  breeding  season  of  1919. 

High  prices  for  purebred  animals.  A  new  era,  distinguished  by 
broader  opportunities  for  the  breeder  of  Standardbred  poultry,  is 
being  ushered  in.  That  means  that  the  best  blood  is  to  be  put  to  its 
greatest  use,  and  no  breeder  who  sees  the  vision  and  whose  aims  are 
focused  on  the  good  that  the  established  American  breeds  can  be 
made  to  do,  and  who  therefore  is  reproducing  his  flock  along  the 
lines  of  Standard  type,  breed  characteristics,  stamina  and  general 
productiveness,  need  fear  for  his  future.  The  farmer  needs  more 
dependable  poultry  of  this  type. 

It  is  the  function  of  the  breeder  to  produce  for  him  the  animal 
machine  of  the  right  size  and  type  to  do  his  work  economically;  the 
farmer's  function  is  then  to  employ  profitably  this  animal  machine  in 


A    DUAL   PURPOSE   TYPE  35 

the  conversion  of  his  raw  material,  of  feed,  into  a  finished  product, 
of  meat  and  eggs.  Nature  covers  his  farm  with  plants,  both  grass 
and  cereals,  which  are  nourished  by  earth,  air  and  water.  They  take 
the  inorganic  materials  and  elaborate  them  into  a  living  structure 
which  serves  as  food  for  his  animals.  Thus  the  farmer  is  essentially 
a  crop  grower  and  feeder  of  livestock,  not  particularly  a  breeder,  and 
it  is  plain  that  he  must  look  to  the  constructive  breeder  for  the  efficient 
animals  that  can  meet  his  requirements  and  produce  economically  the 
maximum  of  what  the  market  requires. 

He  is  buying  that  kind  of  livestock,  with  the  result  that  purebred 
cattle  and  swine  are  selling  at  higher  prices  and  are  in  greater  demand 
than  ever  before.  He  is  buying  purebred  stock  because  it  alone  may 
be  depended  upon  to  possess  linebred  and  established  uniformity  and 
usefulness.  This  explains  the  top  prices  at  the  sales  we  read  about. 
It  accounts  for  the  public  sale  of  fifty  Duroc-Jersey  hogs  by  a  breeder 
in  Nebraska  at  an  average  of  $1,021  each,  followed  in  the  same  season 
(1919)  by  a  breeder  in  Ohio  who  gathers  together  fifty-four  speci- 
mens which  auction  at  an  average  of  $1,018  each.  In  the  season  of 
1918-1919,  as  reported  by  the  Duroc-Jersey  Bulletin,  there  were  175 
sales  of  Durocs  at  which  7,729  animals  were  sold  at  an  average  of 
$208  each.  This  against  6,950  head  sold  in  1917-1918  at  an  average 
price  of  $153.88. 

We  notice  the  same  widespread  appreciation  of  purebred  cattle. 
For  example,  242  Shorthorn  cattle  were  sold  in  1916  for  $1,000  or 
more;  543  were  transferred  in  1917  at  $1,000  or  over,  and  in  the  first 
six  months  of  1918  there  were  840  Shorthorns  that  sold  for  $1,000 
or  more. 

From  $50  to  $200  frequently  is  paid  for  a  choice  male  of  the 
American  breeds,  and  not  uncommonly  such  a  sire  heads  a  pen  from 
which  $200  to  $1,000  worth  of  stock  and  eggs-for-hatching  are  sold. 
While  these  sales  usually  are  to  other  breeders,  they  in  turn  sell  to 
their  trade,  and  thus  sooner  or  later  the  best  blood  is  diffused  into 
the  average  flocks  of  the  country.  Therefore  the  last  analysis  shows 
that  the  traffic  in  Standardbred  poultry,  as  in  other  purebred  stock,  is 
based  fundamentally  on  the  economic  value  of  the  improved  races. 
If  it  were  otherwise  there  would  be  no  lasting  foundation  to  the 
purebred  business. 

Measuring  up  to  the  opportunity.  The  future  in  Standardbred 
poultry  is  for  men  who  can  breed  good  quality,  who  can  organize  a 
business,  who  themselves  can  grow  bigger  with  the  passing  years. 
How  big  are  you?  How  big  are  your  plans?  What  are  you  aims 
this  year?  What  is  your  goal  line  as  chalked  on  the  field  of  endeavor 
for  ten  years  hence?  Let  us  sit  down  and  take  stock  of  ourselves, 
measure  our  resources,  look  into  the  future,  and  see  if  our  pathway 
leads  to  a  destination  that  will  be  distinguished  by  the  fruits  of 
success.  Let  us  see  if  we  cannot  reflect  the  greatness  of  the  poultry 


36  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

industry  in  our  own  poultry  business  and  make  that  business  of  ours 
amount  to  something  in  the  estimation  of  our  town  banker. 

For  whom  do  you  plan  to  grow  fine  fowl?  A  back-lot  fancier? 
If  so,  that  type  of  purchaser  will  influence  the  ends  for  which  you 
bred  and  the  kind  of  business  which  you  develop.  Are  you  growing 
seed  stock  for  a  great  animal  industry  composed  of  poultry  raisers 
who  are  ever  dependent  on  the  constructive  effort  of  poultry  breeders 
for  new  stock  and  new  blood  to  reinforce  their  flocks?  Then  you 
will  not  grow  your  birds  soft,  you  will  not  be  satisfied  to  grow  just 
a  few  of  them,  but  you  will  seek  to  develop  a  type  that  will  prove 
highly  useful  in  the  hands  of  men  and  women  working  under  average 
conditions,  and  you  will  seek  to  multiply  your  supply  of  such  stock 
to  meet  the  demand. 

We  do  not  need  greater  opportunity  in  poultry.  What  we  stand 
in  need  of  today  is  larger  vision.  There  are  nearly  six  million  farm 
flocks  in  the  United  States.  There  are  perhaps  as  many  more  back- 
lot  ooultrykeepers. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE    BREEDER— HIS    PLACE    AND    HIS    WORK 

The  place  of  the  breeder — The  qualifications  of  a  breeder — The  poultry 
show — Appreciating  the  quality  of  a  specimen — The  work  of  the 
breeder — Prepotency — Principles  of  breeding — Values  that  command 

good  prices 

Having  established  the  place  that  the  American  breeds  occupy  in 
the  general  scheme  of  economic  agriculture,  we  shall  be  able  to  point 
out  clearly  just  what  position  the  purebred  breeder  of  these  breeds 
occupies  in  relation  to  the  poultry  industry  as  a  whole.  The  poultry- 
man  who  is  a  breeder  has  a  definite  place  to  fill,  a  definite  service  to 
render,  and  it  is  important  that  he  should  understand  precisely  his 
status,  that  he  may  completely  assume  the  responsibility  which  he 
bears  to  the  industry  and  fully  enjoy  the  opportunities  which  that 
position  affords. 

The  place  of  the  breeder.  The  true  function  of  the  poultry  breeder 
is  to  maintain  a  breeding  establishment  from  which  may  be  supplied 
seed  stock  in  the  form  of  breeding  birds,  eggs  for  hatching,  or  chicks. 

Roughly,  poultrykeeping  may  be  grouped  under  four  heads:  the 
breeder,  the  farmer,  the  commercial  poultryman,  the  back-lotter.  The 
business  of  the  breeder  is  the  maintenance  of  a  supply  to  which  all 
the  members  of  the  other  three  classes  may  go  for  foundation  stock 
or  blood  to  reinforce  their  flocks.  From  such  a  source  flow  the 
rivulets  of  good  size,  type,  breed  character  and  stamina  that  are  to 
be  absorbed  by  the  poultry  of  the  country. 

While  nearly  everyone  who  keeps  poultry  is  somewhat  interested 
in  the  problems  of  breeding,  the  relative  few  become  constructive 
breeders.  The  majority  remain  mere  multipliers,  and  their  poultry  is 
continuously  running  out,  not  because  it  is  inbred,  as  they  may  avow, 
but  because  too  many  poor  individuals  are  allowed  to  reproduce 
themselves.  The  great  majority,  therefore,  are  dependent  upon  the 
constructive  efforts  of  the  breeders. 

It  is  not  generally  understood  that  the  breeder  has  made  a  real 
contribution.  Some  folks  seemingly  take  for  granted  that  the  breeds, 
as  we  have  them,  always  existed.  It  is  therefore  easy  for  them  to 
misunderstand  the  motives  of  the  fancier  and,  assuming  him  to  be 
engrossed  in  an  idler's  hobby,  condemn  him  for  the  hours  he  spends 
with  his  birds.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  very  often  they  are  hours 
of  quiet  observation  and  thoughtful  study. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  men  who  have  been  devoted  to 
their  fowls,  who,  while  the  surrounding  countryside  has  been  asleep, 

37 


38 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


have  carried  the  lantern  to  the  poultry  house  because  they  were 
interested  in  the  birds  that  were  roosting  there,  are  the  men  who 
have  given  us  the  breeds.  They  have  had  in  their  nind's  eye  "the 
better  fowl,"  and  we  need  to  recognize  and  appreciate  the  contribu- 
tions that  they  have  made. 

Breeders  supply  seed  stock.  The  fancier-breeder  is  a  negligible 
minority  in  the  production  of  poultry  and  eggs  for  human  consump- 
tion, but  as  the  producer  of  seed  stock  for  a  great  animal  industry, 
he  is  the  master  key.  Where  is  the  farmer  who  has  decided  to  get 
better  poultry,  a  more  uniform  and  more  productive  flock,  to  get  this 
better  stock  except  from  a  breeder  of  Standardbred  poultry? 

There  are  those  who  profess  to  be  interested  in  utility  alone.  But 
when  they  come  to  buy  foundation  stock  they  do  not  purchase  mon- 
grels; instead,  they  secure  stock  birds,  eggs  for  hatching,  or  chicks 
of  the  improved  races.  Who  established  these  breeds  and  varieties? 
If  devoid  of  the  breeding  instinct,  the  commercial  poultryman  does 
not  improve  the  stock  which  he  carries  on  his  plant  any  more  than  a 
feeder  of  hogs  improves  the  breeds  of  swine.  Indeed,  the  breeders 
who  made  the  breeds,  who  are  the  custodians  of  the  standards  to 
which  they  are  bred,  who  from  year  to  year  reinvest  the  blood 
of  the  best  poultry  of  America  and  bring  forth  a  new  generation,  are 


First  prize_  pen  of  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks  at  the  Kentucky  State  Show,  1898. 
Here  is  a  reddish-buff  male  and  four  females  that  are  buff  only  in  hackle.  Only 
the  conscientious  study  and  painstaking  work  of  constructive  breeders  has  developed 
the  pure  buff  birds  of  today.  Let  those  who  would  belittle  the  work  of  fanciers 
realize  that  such  a  pen  as  is  here  illustrated  would  today  be  typical  of  the  variety 
were  it  not  for  the  fancier-breeders, 


THE  BREEDER— HIS  PLACE  AND  HIS  WORK  39 

the  constructive  improvers  of  our  stock.  They  bear  a  vital  relation- 
ship to  the  great  poultry  industry.  They  deserve  much  credit  and 
every  encouragement. 

The  problem  of  production  rests  with  the  farmer  and  commercial 
poultryman.  The  breeder's  function,  his  excuse  for  being,  is  to  breed 
stock  birds  that  have  a  hereditary  capacity  for  producing  in  the  least 
time  and  at  the  least  expense  the  maximum  of  what  is  required, 
coupled  with  uniformity  of  size,  shape,  color  and  temperament,  so 
that  a  clutch  of  chicks  may  be  depended  upon  to  grow  evenly,  to 
mature  about  the  same  time,  to  attain  about  the  same  size  and  type, 
and  to  possess  about  the  same  temperament.  That  is  a  man's  job, 
and  the  man  who  fills  it  occupies  a  position  alike  honorable  and 
useful.  He  must  be  remunerated  for  the  thought  and  patient  effort 
which  he  devotes  to  this  work;  so  birds  of  good  breeding,  like  silk, 
cannot  be  purchased  at  the  prices  of  calico. 

The  qualifications  of  a  breeder.  Who  can  become  a  constructive 
breeder?  Not  every  man,  any  more  than  every  farmer  can  become 
a  livestock  breeder.  Many  grain  farmers  become  live  stock  feeder^ 
in  order  to  secure  a  satisfactory  crop  rotation  and  economically  utilize 
corn  roughages  that  they  grow  as  a  by-product  of  their  grain.  But, 
as  feeders,  their  business  is  to  convert  feed  into  meat,  and  their 
relations  are  with  the  shippers  and  commission  houses. 

To  be  a  breeder,  one  must  needs  be  a  man  among  men.  This 
does  not  mean  lavish  expenditures  for  entertainment  during  shows. 
It  means  the  possession  of  the  breeder's  instinct;  a  sympathetic  under- 
standing akin  to  affection  for  our  dumb  friends,  even  those  of  the 
feathered  type;  an  exalted  aspiration  to  be  a  producer  and  to  bring 
forth  something  better,  and  withal  the  patience  to  "carry  on."  Such 
a  man  reads  a  little,  experiments  some,  and  thinks  a  great  deal. 

Such  a  man  is  a  fancier.  He  ever  strives  to  improve  his  own 
stud,  and  seeks  and  enjoys  the  company  of  other  stock  improvers. 
He  goes  to  a  poultry  show  and  fails  to  hear  the  roosters  crowing 
in  the  noisy,  merry  place  because  he  is  intensely  interested  in  the 
birds  themselves.  At  his  own  home  he  somehow  feels  that  the  hens 
are  not  laying  eggs  especially  for  someone's  breakfast,  but  rather  to 
reproduce  their  own  species,  and  all  their  lives  he  mates  and  cares 
for  his  birds  with  a  view  to  their  breeding  possibilities. 

His  poultry  plant  is  not  a  factory  where  hen  machines  are  kept 
solely  to  convert  raw  material  or  feed  into  a  finished  product,  meat 
or  eggs.  It  is  a  place  where  the  lives  of  the  fowls  are  marked,  first, 
by  the  period  of  embryonic  development,  then  the  period  of  actual 
growth,  and,  lastly,  the  period  of  reproduction. 

There  is  a  difference  between  production  and  reproduction.  One 
is  the  function  of  a  relentless  machine;  the  other  is  a  process  by 
which  a  new  organism  is  generated  from  that  already  existing  and 
the  perpetuation  of  the  species  assured. 

The  stock  becomes  plastic  in  the  hands  of  the  breeder.    There  is 


THE    BREEDER— HIS    PLACE    AND    HIS    WORK         41 

response  to  every  thoughtful  selection  and  wise  mating.  There  is 
infinite  scope  for  study  and  experimentation,  and  fact  on  fact,  correc- 
tion on  correction,  the  breeder  builds  up  a  rich  knowledge  of  breeding. 
He  does  not  learn  suddenly  or  swiftly — Nature  does  not  teach  that 
way;  but  "slowly,  gradually,  with  infinite  reserve,  with  delicate  con- 
fidences, as  if  to  prolong  our  instructions,  that  we  may  not  forsake 
her  companionship,"  she  yields  up  her  secrets  to  the  student  who  is 
devoted  to  his  work. 

This  should  be  understood:  all  men  alike  have  the  same  sort  of 
feed  to  use,  their  birds  breathe  the  same  air  and  range  on  the  same 
Mother  Earth,  and  the  success  achieved  depends  very  largely  on  the 
intelligence  with  which  the  breeder's  efforts  are  directed. 

The  poultry  show.  At  the  close  of  the  growing  season  and  during 
the  winter  months  the  poultry  exhibitions  are  held.  The  birds  are 
then  in  full  bloom,  both  the  old  birds  that  have  come  through  the 
molt  and  the  young  birds  which  are  then  mature.  With  the  advent 
of  the  poultry  show  season  the  time  is  at  hand  for  breeders  to  put 
down  the  product  of  their  thought  and  labor  to  compete  with  that 
of  one  another,  and  the  breeder-artists  vie  with  one  another  in  exhibit- 
ing the  birds  in  which  they  have  sought  to  give  an  expression  of 
reality  to  the  Standard  ideals. 

Force  of  circumstances,  unfortunately,  has  tended  to  alienate  the 
best  breeders  of  purebred  poultry  from  the  breeders  of  purebred 
livestock.  When  the  stockmen  are  showing  their  animals  at  the  fairs, 
the  poultry  breeder  finds  that  the  majority  of  his  old  birds  are  in  the 
molt  and  his  young  stock  is  still  immature.  The  show  is  the  purebred 
breeder's  best  means  of  securing  an  audience  and  giving  expression 
to  his  work,  and  the  poultrymen  have  to  leave  the  fairs  largely  to 
professional  showmen  who  carry  a  railroad  car  full  of  various  sorts 
of  fowls.  In  order  to  exhibit  his  best  specimens  in  the  pink  of  con- 
dition, the  poultryman  patronizes  the  exclusive  winter  shows,  with 
the  consequence  that  he  often  loses  contact  with  the  breeders  of 
other  kinds  of  livestock,  and  especially  with  the  rural  population, 
who  without  reflection  may  think  of  poultry  breeding  as  a  thing  apart 
from  the  purebred  livestock  business. 

As  an  encouragement  to  poultry  breeders,  several  of  the  leading 
states,  including  Illinois,  Minnesota  and  Iowa,  together  with  the 
province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  have  provided  means  of  subsidiary  sup- 
port to  poultry  shows  from  public  funds.  For  instance,  up  to  $250 
may  be  appropriated  by  the  boards  of  supervisors  in  each  of  the 
102  counties  of  Illinois,  and  up  to  $400  may  be  appropriated  in  Iowa. 
The  money  is  made  available  to  encourage  the  exhibition  of  the  seed 
stock  of  a  great  animal  industry. 

The  merit  of  the  purebred  show  has  been  well  summed  up  by 
Professor  Herbert  W.  Mumford  in  the  following  words:  "With  all 
its  imperfections,  the  livestock  show  is,  for  a  series  of  years,  the  best 
available  measure  of  merit  for  pedigreed  breeding  animals." 


42  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

Some  criticism  has  been  directed  against  the  poultry  show  because 
of  the  standards  by  which  birds  are  rejected  and  disqualified.  Both 
sides  of  the  case  should  be  stated.  It  is  argued  that  Standard  dis- 
qualifications should  be  for  malformations  of  body,  evident  lack  of 
vigor,  and  deficient  breed  characteristics.  It  is  said  to  be  absurd  to 
disqualify  a  bird  of  good  substance  for  what  properly  should  be 
termed  a  defect,  while  an  inferior  utility  specimen  wins  the  premier 
honor.  The  classic  example  of  such  a  case,  cited  by  Felch,  was  that 
of  a  trio  of  birds  that  founded  the  famous  old  Essex  strain  of  Barred 
Plymouth  Rocks  which  "was  disqualified  at  Music  Hall  show,  Boston, 
for  downy  feathers  between  the  toes  of  one  of  the  hens;  yet  in  them 
we  find  'the  stone  the  builders  rejected  has  become  the  chief  stone  of 
the  corner'." 

On  the  other  hand,  if  you  could  have  seen  on  an  express  truck  at 
a  junction  in  Iowa  a  pair  of  Silver  Wyandottes  that  were  being 
shipped  for  stock  purposes,  you  probably  would  have  favored  the 
inclusion  of  numerous  technical  and  arbitrary  disqualifications  as  a 
protection  to  the  buyer.  Such  was  the  motive  that  actuated  Reese  V. 
Hicks,  as  chairman  of  the  1915  Standard  revision  committee,  to  cham- 
pion the  retention  of  the  disqualifications  in  the  text  of  the  American 
Standard  of  Perfection.  This  is  the  copyrighted  text  published  by 
the  American  Poultry  Association,  which  is  the  guide  of  the  judge  in 
the  showroom. 

Appreciating  the  quality  of  a  specimen.  Knowledge  of  what  con- 
stitutes a  good  bird  comes  from  study,  observation,  experience.  It 
cannot  be  summed  up  in  a  single  sentence.  The  phrases  in  the 
Standard  are  hollow  and  empty  to  one  who  never  has  caught  the 
vision  of  a  detailed  fowl  and  to  whom  "all  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks 
look  like  mongrels." 

When  you  look  at  a  specimen  you  can  see  only  what  you  know. 
I  see  much  in  a  Buff  Plymouth  Rock  cockerel,  but  in  a  Duroc-Jersey 
hog  I  can  see  little  more  than  an  arched  back,  and  gather  an  impres- 
sion of  the  head  and  an  uncertain  idea  of  the  size.  When  a  herdsman 
steps  up  to  the  animal  and  puts  his  finger  on  a  wind-puff  on  the 
hock,  I  see  that  also.  It  has  been  pointed  out 

Some  learn  faster  than  others  what  constitutes  a  fowl.  The  first 
section  of  a  bird  I  ever  noticed  was  the  wing.  Many  people  see  the 
comb  first  and  count  the  points.  I  was  slow  to  distinguish  a  bay  eye 
from  a  gray  eye,  always  seeing  the  pupil  instead  of  the  iris  which 
carries  the  color,  and  likewise  slow  to  distinguish  between  pure  white 
and  the  brassy  or  straw  color  effect  common  to  some  white  males. 
It  was  a  source  of  secret  discouragement  to  me  not  to  be  able  to 
look  at  the  back  of  a  male  and  see  the  straw  color  that  was  quite 
prevalent  in  the  White  Wyandottes  of  twenty  years  ago.  These  points 
now  seem  simple  enough. 

No  time  is  ever  lost  by  the  beginner  in  training  his  eye  to  appre- 
ciate conformations  and  other  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  high 


THE    BREEDER— HIS    PLACE    AND    HIS    WORK         43 

class  specimens.  By  accepting  the  visible  qualities  of  fowls  at  their 
true  worth,  you  establish  a  base  on  which  the  imagination  may  safely 
play  in  picturing  the  possibilities  of  birds  when  mating  up  the  breed- 
ing pens.  Breeding  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  pedigree;  simply 
breeding  back  to  a  good  sire  or  dam  is  not  in  itself  sufficient  to 
guarantee  success,  and  an  eye  for  a  bird  is  the  greatest  asset  that 
any  breeder  can  have. 

The  work  of  the  breeder.  The  poultry  breeder  sees  a  great  deal 
of  breeding.  He  not  only  is  working  with  a  species  that  matures 
quickly  and  has  an  annual  cycle,  but  the  number  of  eggs  that  a 
single  hen  may  lay  in  the  breeding  season,  or  the  number  of  young 
that  one  sire  may  get,  is  great  enough  to  afford  a  wide  range  for 
observation  and  critical  selection  when  the  j-oung  are  grown. 

A  Shorthorn  cattleman  may  buy  a  bred  cow  and  raise  a  bull  calf; 
buy  two  heifers  "on  speculation";  go  to  a  sale  and  buy  a  cow  with 
a  calf  at  her  side,  and  be  termed  one  of  the  purebred  breeders  of  his 
county.  In  reality,  such  man  has  purchased  only  a  little  blood,  and 
has  a  feed  lot  back  of  him.  The  poultry  breeder  must  be  infinitely 
more  than  this.  He  must  be  a  detail  man.  He  must  know  every 
part  of  the  material  with  which  he  works,  and,  in  addition  to  knowing 
good  quality  when  he  sees  it,  he  must  know  the  fundamentals  of 
breeding  good  quality. 

Building  a  strain.  There  are  beginners  who  take  up  poultry  and 
secure  stock  from  one  breeder,  then  from  another  source  the  follow- 
ing year,  keeping  within  the  breed,  to  be  sure;  yet  these  buyers  do 
not  have  a  clear  perception  of  what  they  are  seeking,  because  they 
do  not  have  a  clear  perception  of  what  they  are  trying  to  produce. 
New  blood  should  be  introduced  for  a  definite  purpose,  to  improve 
some  point,  to  check  some  fault.  There  can  be  no  such  definiteness 
of  purpose  unless  the  breeder  has  a  standard  of  quality  well  defined 
in  his  mind  and  is  ever  working  toward  that  ideal. 

If  the  experienced  breeder  were  to  go  out  of  business  and  then 
begin  over  again  to  reestablish  himself,  he  would  go  to  a  flock  of 
his  chosen  breed,  and,  with  the  Standard  type  firmly  set  in  his  mind, 
he  would  select  from  the  available  specimens,  with  some  respect  to 
blood  lines  and  pedigree,  those  that  measured  up  to  what  he  required. 
None  would  be  perfect  but  all  would  be  strong,  healthy  birds,  with 
a  good  point  to  balance  and  counteract  every  poor  point  possessed  by 
any  other,  so  that,  as  far  as  possible,  birds  having  the  same  defects 
would  not  have  to  be  mated  together.  This  selection  would  give  the 
breeder,  in  his  chosen  birds  and  carefully  mated  pens,  a  selective  type 
that  would  distinctly  set  his  line  of  stock  ahead  of  the  common  pre- 
vailing type.  By  interbreeding  this  stock,  the  breeder  soon  would 
have  a  strain  within  the  breed — his  own  strain. 

The  value  of  selection.  Selection  is  the  secret  of  the  breeder's 
magic.  It  enabled  Sir  John  Sebright  to  produce  a  breed  of  Bantams 
which  bears  his  name  and  of  which  breed  the  birds  were  so  uniform 


44  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

in  type,  so  beautifully  marked  and  precisely  colored  that  even  his  own 
friends  are  reported  to  have  doubted  his  ability  to  produce  such  won- 
drous lilliputians  of  the  feathered  tribe,  and  to  have  stated  openly 
that  he  must  have  imported  them  from  some  foreign  land. 

It  is  selection  that  has  enabled  the  Polled  Hereford  breeders  to 
breed  the  horns  off  Hereford  cattle  within  a  single  decade — something 
that  nature  had  not  done  in  all  the  centuries.  It  was  intelligently 
directed  selection  that  established  the  American  breeds  and  arranged 
in  order  that  medley  of  heredity  and  variation  that  arose  when  the 
Asiatic  and  European  stock  was  crossed. 

Selection  is  not  new.  It  is  recorded  that  the  ancient  Chinese 
sought  to  improve  their  sheep  by  choosing  with  particular  care  the 
lambs  that  were  to  be  used  for  breeding,  in  nourishing  them  well, 
and  keeping  the  flocks  separate.  They  practiced  the  selection  of  rice 
seed  of  large  size.  The  phaeony  tree  has  been  cultivated,  according 
to  Chinese  traditions,  for  fourteen  hundred  years. 

The  propagation  of  plants  and  the  domestication  of  animals  is 
one  of  the  oldest  pursuits  of  man.  When  the  human  race  entered  the 
agricultural  stage  it  could  not  have  been  long  in  learning  that  what 
it  sowed,  that  likewise  did  it  reap.  The  appearance  and  very  exist- 
ence of  his  food  became  the  result  of  man's  own  act.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  the  cock  that  made  a  successful  growth  and  attained 
a  maximum  development  against  the  one  that  made  a  moderate  and 
indifferent  growth,  has  long  been  selected  for  the  stud.  It  is  said  that 
the  Fuegian,  possessing  but  the  small  intellectual  attainments  of  the 
south  sea  savages,  practices  selection  in  the  breeding  of  his  dogs, 
and  if  he  has  "a  large,  strong  and  active  bitch"  he  puts  her  to  a  fine 
dog  and  takes  care  to  feed  her  well,  "that  the  young  may  be  strong 
and  well  favored." 

Natural  selection.  Man  works  quickly  by  consciously  making 
selections  of  the  best  and  most  desired  type.  It  is  important,  how- 
ever, to  realize  that  while  man  on  this  earth  is  loose  in  a  portion 
of  the  Creator's  workshop  and  is  endowed  with  a  brain  that  aspires 
and  still  aspires,  he  has  only  limited  dominion.  In  addition  to  his 
artificial  selections,  natural  selection,  or  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  is 
working  all  the  while.  The  breeder  is  on  safe  ground  only  as  long 
as  he  works  in  harmony  with  nature,  who  always  is  seeking  to  keep 
the  domesticated  races  from  becoming  enfeebled;  and  if  the  breeder 
disregards  the  fundamental  biological  factors  of  constitutional  vigor 
and  by  careful  selection  perpetuates  a  short  type  of  Wyandotte,  or 
effeminate  type  of  Bantam,  natural  selection  steps  in  and  decreases 
fertility.  It  is  important,  therefore,  that  all  ideals  should  be  sound, 
that  they  should  represent  the  most  useful  and  productive  types. 

Inbreeding.  Having  an  understanding  of  type  which  is  funda- 
mental in  breeding,  the  breeder  makes  selections  of  this  type  from 
year  to  year,  and  practices  inbreeding,  that  variability  from  the 
desired  type  may  be  reduced.  The  very  word  "inbreeding"  is  highly 


THE    BREEDER— HIS    PLACE    AND    HIS    WORK 


45 


distasteful  to  many  people.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  some  of  the 
greatest  animals  in  history  have  been  produced  by  close  inbreeding. 
An  inbred  individual  has  fewer  different  ancestors  than  the  maxi- 
mum possible  number.  A  table  showing  the  maximum  possible 
number  of  ancestors  for  twenty  generations  follows: 


Generation 

Maximum   Possible 
Number  of  Ancestors 

Generation 

Maximum  Possible 
Number  of  Ancestors 

1st 

2 

llth 

2,648 

2d 

4 

12th 

4,096 

3d 

8 

13th 

8,192 

4th 

16 

14th 

16,384 

5th 

32 

15th 

32,768 

6th 

64 

16th 

65,536 

7th 

128 

17th 

131,072 

8th 

256 

18th 

262,144 

9th 

512 

19th 

524,288 

10th 

1,025 

20th 

1,048,576 

It  is  plain  from  this  tabulation  that  to  produce  an  unrelated  pair 
of  birds  at  the  end  of  twenty  generations,  the  foundation  stock  would 
have  to  number  over  one  million  head.  Of  course,  no  flock,  or  even 
breed,  could  have  such  a  multiple  origin.  Therefore,  inbreeding  in 
some  degree  becomes  necessary  because  of  overwhelming  numbers. 
Inbreeding  is  necessary  to  reduce  the  number  of  ancestors  and  thereby 
reduce  the  chances  of  variation. 

Inbreeding  intensifies  and  fixes  the  characters  that  are  so  bred. 
It  was  resorted  to  by  early  breeders  of  purebred  poultry  because 
outside  their  own  or  related  flocks  they  were  not  able  to  find  and 
procure  birds  that  would  serve  their  purposes  as  well  as  birds  of 
their  own  breeding  or  birds  of  blood  relationship  to  their  own  stock. 
The  evil  effects  of  inbreeding  are  not  infrequently  evil  effects  result- 
ing from  the  breeding  of  weak  birds,  for  when  father  is  mated  to 
daughter,  or  brother  to  sister,  or  mother  to  son,  not  only  the  good 
points  are  intensified,  but  weaknesses  are  likewise  augmented.  If 
there  is  a  constitutional  predisposition  to  weakness  in  the  stock,  it 
becomes  accentuated  when  bred  in-and-in. 

As  practiced  by  breeders,  the  principal  purpose  of  inbreeding  is  to 
restrict,  that  is,  to  simplify,  the  blood  lines  by  excluding  all  outside 
characters  and  tendencies,  thus  intensifying  the  points  which  the 
breeder  has  selected  and  which  he  desires  to  perfect  and  perpetuate. 
It  has  been  said  that  at  last  an  inbred  family  breaks  down  and  "runs 
out."  There  appears  to  be  no  evidence  of  this  when  the  standard 
bred  to  is  a  sensible  standard,  a  true  ideal  that  does  not  encourage  the 
development  and  perpetuation  of  freakish  traits.  Even  though  it  be 
granted,  however,  that  inbreeding  at  last  leads  to  decadence,  it  is  not 


46  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

a  sufficient  argument  against  the  intensification  of  good  qualities.  The 
strain  so  bred,  with  its  established  quality,  may  raise  the  general 
quality  of  the  variety  before  the  family  or  strain  itself  becomes 
extinct.  Even  though  the  period  of  vigor  for  the  strain  should  be 
comparatively  short,  the  breed  as  a  whole  partakes  of  the  improve- 
ment, and  the  good  of  the  closely  bred  family  is  absorbed  by  the 
mass  as  the  result  of  the  dissemination  of  stock  birds. 

The  fear  of  inbreeding  is  losing  its  terrors.  It  is  becoming  gener- 
ally understood  that  a  fixity  of  type  can  be  secured  and  maintained 
only  through  in-and-in  breeding.  When  size  and  vigor  are  selected 
the  same  as  shape  and  color,  no  disease  or  deformity  may  be 
attributed  to  close  breeding  as  a  cause. 

Linebreeding.  Many  cases  of  inbreeding  do  not  represent  line- 
breeding.  Linebreeding  is  commonly  looked  upon  as  involving  the 
breeding  together  of  specimens  of  the  same  strain  or  family,  but  less 
closely  related  than  in  inbreeding.  This  interpretation  makes  line- 
breeding  a  mild  form  of  inbreeding;  but  the  fact  is  that  linebreeding 
may  involve  a  very  close  form  of  inbreeding. 

When  the  application  of  inbreeding  is  in  the  hands  of  a  thinker 
who  is  ever  drawing  his  blood  lines  from  the  past  and  projecting  them 
into  the  future;  when  inbreeding  is  practiced  by  a  constructive  breeder 
whose  aim  is  to  concentrate  the  blood  of  certain  individuals,  then 
inbreeding  properly  is  termed  "linebreeding." 

This  term  "linebreeding"  was  used  originally  by  the  cattle  breeders 
of  England  to  indicate  that  the  progeny  were  bred  in  a  direct  line 
from  a  famous  ancestor. 

Inbreeding  is  to  breed  within  the  line;  yet  related  specimens  may 
be  mated  to  very  little  purpose,  and  some  inbred  flocks  are  not  line- 
bred.  If  a  cockerel  is  mated  to  his  dam  to  fix  or  intensify  some 
quality  possessed  by  the  dam  or  characteristic  or  her  sire  and  the 
line  from  which  she  came,  the  progeny  resulting  from  the  union  of 
that  cockerel  mated  to  his  dam  are  linebred.  When  a  specimen  is 
truly  a  linebred  bird  it  is  the  product  of  a  system  of  breeding  that 
has  been  carried  on  to  stamp  certain  desirable  and  valuable  char- 
acteristics of  the  ancestors  on  the  offspring. 

Value  of  linebred  birds.  Breeders  have  been  known  to  inbreed 
their  fowls  for  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years  without  the  introduction 
of  a  single  new  bird.  The  most  renowned  producers  of  high  quality 
Standard  specimens  have  been  close  breeders,  without  exception. 
Invariably  they  have  maintained  that  no  evil  effects  accrue  to  line- 
breeding.  On  the  contrary,  in,  the  case  of  these  successful  breeders, 
their  stock  reaches  such  a  high  state  of  perfection  that  they  know  to 
a  nicety  what  may  be  expected  from  a  mating  before  the  chicks  are 
grown,  and  they  dread  the  introduction  of  ^resh  blood,  fearing  that 
it  will  spoil  the  blood  lines  which  it  has  taken  them  the  greater  part 
of  their  lives  to  establish. 

Variation.     While  linebred  strains  can  be  counted  upon  to  repro- 


THE  BREEDER— HIS  PLACE  AND  HIS  WORK    47 

duce  their  like  with  fewer  birds  showing  a  turning  out  of  line,  even 
in  closely  bred  lines  in  which  the  number  of  different  ancestors  has 
been  reduced  considerably  there  are  to  be  found  fluctuations  in  size, 
shape,  color,  etc.  If  such  were  not  the  case  and  there  were  no  varia- 
tions to  afford  the  breeder  a  field  from  which  to  make  selections, 
selective  breeding  by  which  further  improvement  could  be  made 
would  be  impossible.  If  there  were  no  distinguishing  differences 
between  birds  of  the  same  breed,  there  would  be  no  best  bird,  no 
poorest.  These  fluctuations  give  individuality  to  each  bird  and  permit 
it  to  be  set  definitely  in  the  scale  of  values.  "Variation  precedes,  the 
breeder  follows." 

Those  who  wish  to  do  constructive  breeding  should  early  learn 
that  a  hen  is  more  than  a  unit.  A  hen  is  an  individual,  arid  scarcely 
any  two  are  alike.  Numerous  and  varied  charts  on  linebreeding  have 
been  published,  and  the  weakness  of  these  theoretical  chart  systems 
is  in  the  fact  that  they  estimate  as  mere  units  in  a  grand  plan  the 
birds  that  are  employed  in  the  breeding  operations  from  year  to  year. 
The  man  who  breeds  chickens  soon  learns  that  there  are  such  things 
as  prepotency,  long  life,  strong  constitutional  vigor — all  of  which  are 
the  possession  of  some  birds.  When  the  breeder  finds  such  a  specimen 
he  is  able  to  use  it  to  good  advantage  for  several  years.  The  chart 
system  of  breeding,  however,  takes  for  granted  that  one  specimen  is 
as  strong  a  breeder  as  another,  but  every  practical  breeder  knows  that 
this  is  not  the  case. 

Prepotency.  Occasionally  there  is  born  into  the  line  a  specimen  of 
unusual  vigor  and  outstanding  quality,  and  he  not  only  transmits  but 
stamps  himself  upon  his, progeny.  Fortunate  is  the  breeder  who 
secures  a  prepotent  sire  of  this  kind.  A  single  instance  will  serve  to 
illustrate  the  value  of  such  a  bird. 

For  years  an  important  section  of  the  Buff  Wyandotte  fancy  cen- 
tered around  northeastern  New  York  state.  About  1900  a  number 
of  the  best  breeders  participated  with  an  entry  at  the  Cambridge 
(New  York)  fair  to  determine  which  of  them  had  the  best  stock. 
R.  Brooks  Robbins  showed  a  sensational  male  bird  which  has  been 
described  to  us  by  John  D.  Jaquins  as  "possessing  an  even  shade 
of  color,  a  little  chestnut  on  tail,  and  nearly  clear  wings — about  a 
shade  darker  than  is  being  shown  now."  At  that  time  this  bird  was 
the  only  short-backed,  typical  round-typed  male  of  the  variety  that 
had  been  shown.  He  was  entered  as  a  cockerel,  but  before  the 
ribbons  were  placed  Mr.  Jacquins  bought  the  bird  and  reentered  him 
as  a  cock,  the  fair  being  held  in  August  and  the  bird  having  been 
hatched  very  late  the  previous  season. 

Mr.  Jacquins  bought  the  male  for  fifteen  dollars.  Frank  Bean 
offered  twenty-five  dollars  for  him.  Every  breeder  who  saw  the  bird 
appreciated  him,  and  Mr.  Jacquins  had  a  number  of  chances  to  sell 
him,  "inquiries  even  coming  from  Canada  for  this  wonderful  male 
that  had  been  written  up  in  papers."  The  bird  at  last  was  purchased 


48  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

by  the  late  Warren  T.  Lord  at  something  like  fifty  dollars  and  became 
the  foundation  of  Mr.  Lord's  fine  male  line.  Indeed,  from  this  sire 
was  developed  the  best  line  of  Buff  Wyandotte  males  in  the  country. 

Principles  of  breeding.  Thus  far  we  have  outlined  in  a  general 
way  the  work  of  the  constructive  breeder  of  Standardbred  poultry. 
Strictly  adhering  to  a  rigid  standard,  he  makes  closely  culled  matings, 
giving  the  preference  in  reproduction  only  to  the  best;  he  linebreeds 
to  intensify  the  blood  of  these  good  specimens,  and  never  fails  to  take 
advantage  of  an  exceptional  bird  that  promises  to  improve  his  line. 

The  best  breeders  are  always  keen  students,  keeping  records  of 
pedigrees  by  toe-marking  the  chicks,  not  infrequently  making  special 
or  experimental  matings,  and  always  noting  results.  Their  progress 
has  outrun  science,  and  the  teachers  of  the  principles  which  underlie 
the  practical  breeder's  art  are  just  beginning  to  present  comprehensive 
rules  which  classify  the  subject  of  heredity. 

The  papers  of  G.  Mendel  have  offered  the  modern  basis  for  an 
analysis  of  breeding.  Mendel  was  an  Austrian  monk  who  was  deeply 
interested  in  the  mode  of  inheritance.  The  results  of  his  experiments 
were  first  reported  in  1865,  but  went  unheeded.  The  papers  were 
rediscovered  in  1900,  and  the  last  twenty  years  have  developed  a 
steadily  clearing  conception  of  the  processes  of  inheritance. 

Mendel  was  aware  that  the  subject  of  heredity  was  complex  and 
intricate,  so  he  limited  himself  to  simple  and  prominent  features,  such 
as  long  stem  versus  short  stem  of  peas.  He  crossed  tall  peas  that 
measured  six  feet  with  dwarf  peas  one  foot  high.  The  result  was 
that  all  the  plants  were  tall.  He  therefore  said  that  the  tall  character 
was  dominent  and  the  short  character  was  recessive. 

These  tall  hybrids  were  then  reproduced  and  out  of  a  thousand 
plants  grown,  there  were  approximately  three  that  were  tall  to  every 
one  that  was  short.  It  was  then  found  that  the  short  plants  appeared 
to  be  purebred,  for  the  following  year  they  produced  all  short  stems. 
When  the  tall  plants  self-fertilized  and  reproduced  it  was  found  that 
one  tall  plant  in  three  appeared  to  be  pure  and  transmitted  tallness 
with  certainty.  Thus  we  see  Mendel  reducing  heredity  of  this  pair 
of  characters  to  mathematical  certainty. 

Inheritance  of  Rose  and  Single  Combs.  Mendel's  pea  experiment 
has  been  repeated  by  crossing  rose  comb  fowls  on  single  comb  fowls. 
The  results  are  identical,  that  is,  all  the  hybrids  are  rose  combed,  and 
when  they  are  bred  together  they  produce  3  rose  to  1  single,  and  the 
single  is  pure  single.  A  pure  rose  comb,  inheriting  roseness  from 
both  sire  and  dam,  may  be  indicated  by  the  letters  R  R;  a  pure  single, 
S  S;  while  a  bird  that  inherits  roseness  from  one  parent  and  the  single 
form  from  the  other  parent  has  a  comb  that  may  be  designated  as 
R  S.  When  pure  rose  is  mated  to  pure  single,  that  is  when  R  R 
is  mated  to  S  S  the  birds  produced  in  the  first  generation  are  all  rose1 
combed,  because  rose  is  the  dominant  factor. 

From    the    standpoint    of    inheritance    these    combs    are    not    pure 


THE    BREEDER— HIS    PLACE    AND    HIS    WORK         49 

rose  because  one  of  the  parents  was  single  combed.  This  first  gen- 
eration may  therefore  be  indicated  as  R  S.  When  R  S  is  mated 
together  the  rose  and  single  comb  factors  separate  themselves  in 
some  of  the  progeny  and  25  percent  come  as  pure  single,  and  75  per- 
cent as  rose  of  which  one-third  are  pure  rose  and  two-thirds  are 
impure  rose.  When  the  50  percent  impure  rose  are  bred  together  they 
likewise  give  25  percent  pure  rose  and  25  percent  pure  single. 

RRXSS 


RS 

F1   g-pnerati^n 

1 

RR 

i                      I 
R  S                 R  S 

S  S 
r  L    veneration 

50% 

This  application  of  Mendel's  principles  shows  that  a  plant  or  animal 
is  not  an  indivisable  whole  or  that  the  breeding  of  it  is  largely  chance. 
It  indicates  that  our  fowls  are  a  combination  of  rather  definite  factors; 
each  character  being  represented  in  the  germ  cells  of  the  reproductive 
system  by  some  factor  that  is  transmitted  not  by  mere  chance  but  in 
an  orderly  manner.  It  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  factors  may 
become  contaminated  in  crossing  and  that  the  highest  quality  results 
from  pure  breeding;  but  the  big  point  is  that  a  fowrl  inherits  different 
characters  as  somewhat  definite  factors. 

The  business  of  the  breeder,  therefore,  is  to  consider  the  charac- 
ters in  his  line  that  are  well  established  and  can  be  depended  upon  to 
reproduce  themselves.  The  factors  of  perfection  may  exist  in  a  flock, 
yet  perfection  may  never  be  exemplified  in  any  one  individual.  Hav- 
ing noted  the  points  in  the  flock  that  are  good,  the  next  thing  is  to 
consider  those  characters  which  require  improvement.  Perhaps  size 
should  be  increased.  We  have  already  explained  in  connection  with 
the  rise  of  the  Cochin,  Chapter  I,  that  size  cleoencls  upon  a  growth 
tendency  that  is  inherited;  and  this  point  is  illustrated  in  Chapter  II 
where  it  is  related  that  Standard  sized  Plymouth  Rock  males  on  the 
government  farm  transmitted  a  tendency  for  increased  size  when 
mated  to  small  mongrel  hens.  The  possible  size  of  a  bird  is  there- 
fore determined  by  a  factor  for  this  character  in  the  germ  substance 
of  the  egg  from  which  the  bird  is  born.  In  order  to  get  large  sized 
young  stock,  you  must  therefore  breed  a  bird  of  good  size  and  sub- 
stance, for  feeding  alone  cannot  grow  a  bird  bigger  than  its  inherited 
capacity  to  size. 

Breeding  for  increased  egg  production.  Egg  production  likewise 
depends  in  the  first  place,  upon  inheritance.  At  the  Maine  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  it  was  found  that  one  female  with  1,550  yolks  or 
ova  that  were  visible  upon  examination  of  her  ovary,  had  produced 
13  eggs  during  the  winter  months;  a  female  with  2,145,  produced  no 
winter  eggs;  one  with  2,451,  laid  54  winter  eggs;  while  a  female  that 


50  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

was  found  to  have  2,306  had  a  winter  production  of  3  eggs.  Almost 
any  female  will  carry  enough  minute  yolks  to  theoretically  make  a 
200-egg  hen  for  five  successive  years.  What  is  it  then  that  gears  hens 
up  so  that  they  will  mature  a  larger  number  of  these  yolks  and  lay  a 
larger  number  of  eggs?  The  answer  is  a  factor  that  represents  high 
production  which  the  bird  must  inherit. 

There  is  a  distinguishable  difference  between  low  production  or  less 
than  30  eggs  during  the  winter  months,  and  high  production  or  more 
than  30  eggs  during  the  winter  months.  Let  us  observe  how  high 
producing  pullets  have  actually  been  bred  from  low  producers.  The 
hen  that  has  a  winter  egg  yield  of  less  than  30  eggs  is  a  hen  and  has 
an  ovary  and  H  will  stand  for  her.  She  lays  some  eggs  and  E  will 
stand  for  this  character.  The  hen  that  lays  less  than  30  eggs  may 
therefore  be  designated  as  HE.  Now,  if  a  hen  is  to  be  a  high  layer, 
a  new  factor  is  necessary  in  the  germ  plasm.  Let  IGHT  stand  for 
this  new  factor.  The  low  producer  inherited  and  possesses  two  fac- 
tors H  and  E,  while  the  high  producer  inherited  a  supplemental  factor 
IGHT  which  raises  the  first  two  factors,  hen  and  eggs,  to  HEIGHT 
of  egg  production. 

At  the  Maine  Station  where  the  breeding  experiments  were  carried 
on,  it  was  found  that  females  may  possess  all  these  factors  and  be 
high  producers,  yet  they  can  transmit  to  their  pullets  only  the  first 
two,  and  the  determining  factor  for  high  production  must  be  possessed 
and  transmitted  by  the  male.  Accordingly  it  was  found  that  a  prop- 
erly bred  and  fully  possessed  male  would  grade  up  a  low  producing 
flock  in  a  single  generation.  The  factor  for  increased  production  is 
not  present  in  all  males  and  being  an  invisible  hereditary  cell,  its  pres- 
ence can  only  be  determined  by  experimental  breeding  of  the  individual 
itself.  Chapter  IV  will  hold  out  some  help  to  the  breeder  in  pick- 
ing his  birds  for  egg  production  according  to  easily  distinguished 
somatic  characters;  nevertheless,  the  experimental  evidence  on  the 
inheritance  of  fecundity  is  as  valuable  as  it  is  interesting  in  showing 
that  inheritance  for  high  production  is  not  from  dam  to  daughter  but 
from  sire  to  daughter,  and  therefore  a  poor  male  mated  to  high 
producing  females  will  Decrease  the  production  of  the  pullets  for 
they  depend  upon  their  sire  for  the  inheritance  of  the  excess  produc- 
tion factor. 

The  lesson  to  be  learned.  A  conception  of  the  fowl  not  as  an 
indivisible  whole  but  as  a  composite  whole  made  up  in  an  orderly 
and  consistent  manner  of  different  parts  which  behave  and  are  trans- 
mitted as  factors,  gives  rise  to  several  important  subjects.  First,  a 
bird  may  be  purebred  in  respect  to  one  character  and  not  pure  in 
respect  to  another.  Blue  color  in  chickens,  for  instance,  is  never 
pure,  which  is  to  say  that  blue  chickens  always  produce  some  black 
and  some  splashed  white  chicks.  Such  a  bird  while  not  pure  for 
blue  color  may  be  pure  in  respect  to  other  characters;  for  instance, 
comb.  Second,  on  figuring  transmission  the  old  way  which  was  as 


THE    BREEDER— HIS   PLACE   AND    HIS   WORK.         51 

Sire  Dam 

100%  100%  1st  Generation 


50%  \  2nd  Generation 


An    Unsatisfactory    Way    of 
Indicating    Inheritance. 


75%  3rd  Generation 


follows:  a  specimen  inherits  one-half  from  its  parents,  one-quarter 
from  its  grandparents,  one-eighth  from  its  great-grandparents,  for  that 
is  not  a  satisfactory  way  of  indicating  inheritance,  because  it  does  not 
take  into  account  the  true  hereditary  processes.  Third,  a  cheap  bird 
that  possesses  a  desirable  feature  may  be  employed  in  breeding,  and 
the  character  incorporated  in  the  flock  along  with  other  desirable 
characters  already  established  therein.  For  instance,  a  light  eye  is 
recessive  to  red,  and  if  a  flock  is  weak  in  eye  color,  a  red-eyed  bird 
will  improve  it  quickly;  and  this  flock  improver,  or  male,  need  not 
have  every  other  good  quality  possessed  by  the  flock.  Fourth,  if  a 
new  bird  is  introduced  into  the  breeding  yards,  the  progeny  resulting 
from  the  cross  may  not  exhibit  the  desired  quality  in  the  first  genera- 
tion, as,  for  example,  if  a  single  comb  character  were  introduced  into 
a  pure  rose  comb  flock,  the  chicks  would  carry  rose  combs;  but  if 
these  chicks  are  bred  between  themselves,  they  would  produce  a 
certain  proportion  of  pure  breeding  single  combs. 

This  is  an  extreme  example  which  the  practical  breeder  will  not 
have  occasion  to  duplicate  but  the  point  is  that  many  a  breeder  has 
introduced  into  his  yard  what  appeared  to  be  a  specimen  possessed 
of  desirable  quality  and  being  disappointed  with  the  results,  dis- 
carded all  the  birds  produced,  whereas  in  another  generation  he  could 
expect  the  parental  character  to  manifest  itself  in  some  of  the  chicks. 
Fifth,  the  number  of  points  that  a  breeder  may  strive  for  in  a  single 
mating  are  limited.  More  than  three  or  four  points  at  a  time  is 
beyond  the  range  of  the  most  skilled  breeder. 

The  chances  of  satisfying  the  breeder's  expectations  and  his  re- 
quirements by  finding  in  a  single  bird  that  is  born  into  the  line  a 
combination  of  three  or  four  points  along  which  improvement  is 
being  sought  is  even  less  than  the  chance  of  finding  any  one  charac- 
ter or  a  combination  of  any  two.  It  is  because  the  breeding  for  a 
few  characters  at  a  time  is  not  only  more  simple  but  the  more  cer- 
tain that  a  large  part  of  pedigree-breeding  for  eggs  is  carried  on 


52  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

with  white  varieties  where  the  color  consideration  is  all  but  elimi- 
nated. 

It  should  be  understood  that  these  characters  or  different  factors 
which  make  up  the  complete  fowl,  are  not  always  sharply  separated 
from  one  another,  or  rigid  and  immutable  as  atoms  are.  Experi- 
ence indicates  that  they  may  become  somewhat  contaminated  in  cross- 
breeding. Two  apparently  distinct  characters  are  sometimes  asso- 
ciated together,  as  for  instance:  pure  yellow  shank  and  pure  black 
neck  plumage  in  a  Black  Wyandotte  male  is  never  found  in  the  same 
individual,  it  being  impossible  in  this  case  for  nature  to  give  full 
expression  to  the  shank  character  unless  a  sacrifice  is  made  in  under 
color  of  neck.  Some  of  the  other  points  in  which  the  breeder  is 
interested  will  be  found  not  to  yield  to  simple  analysis,  and  all  of 
the  processes  of  heredity  cannot  be  reduced  to  simple  terms. 

Values  that  command  good  prices.  In  the  sale  and  distribution 
of  Standardbred  poultry  there  are  three  measures  of  value  (A)  the 
individual  merit  that  the  specimen  exhibits,  (B)  the  breeding  that  the 
bird  possesses,  say  its  pedigree,  (C)  the  record  of  the  bird  as  a 
breeder  or  producer  of  choice  specimens.  An  occasional  bird  may 
qualify  in  all  three  respects  but  such  a  one  is  almost  priceless. 

The  majority  of  buyers  insist  on  individual  merit,  assuming  that 
the  bird  would  not  possess  the  desired  quality  unless  it  was  properly 
bred.  This  point  is  carried  to  the  extreme  by  many  farmers  who 
require  cockerelbred  Barred  Rock  males.  At  the  same  time  they 
complain  that  their  females  run  too  dark,  yet  it  is  only  on  the 
strongest  representation  of  a  conccientious  breeder  that  they  will 
accept  a  pulletbred  male  which  is  too  light  in  color  to  appear  well 
yet  is  what  is  needed. 

High  priced  buyers  commonly  insist  on  "a  good  looker"  asking 
"what  is  the  use  to  buy  breeding  value  unless  the  bird  is  itself  a 
demonstration  that  the  breeding  will  produce"?  This  argument  holds 
good  nine  times  out  of  ten,  but  now  and  again  you  find  a  good  looker 
that  has  been  produced  from  an  excess  color  mating  and  is  a  full 
brother  to  a  number  of  wasters;  and  unless  you  have  some  idea  of 
his  breeding  it  may  be  difficult  to  mate  him  to  advantage.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  full  brother  to  a  winner,  even  though  the  brother  is  a 
little  coarse,  may  prove  a  splendid  purchase. 

A  few  buyers  will  buy  breeding,  figuring  that  breeding  alone  will 
come  cheaper  than  breeding  coupled  with  individual  merit.  In  this 
case  it  is  necessary  to  rely  on  the  reputation  of  the  seller  to  ship 
something  that  is  bred  right.  This  emphasizes  the  importance  of 
buying  only  from  an  established  breeder  who  has  some  standing  in  the 
poultry  fraternity.  When  such  a  purchase  is  made,  the  buyer  may 
feel  that  his  bird  carries  the  best  of  blood  and  though  not  presenting 
the  best  appearance,  the  quality  is  there  as  a  latent  factor  and  blood 
will  tell.  A  striking  instance  of  such  a  purchase  was  brought  to  the 
writer's  attention  at  the  Washington  (D.  C.)  show  of  January,  1917. 


THE  BREEDER— HIS   PLACE  AND   HIS   WORK          53 

Mr.  R.  J.  Waldron  exhibited  three  splendid  Barred  Rock  pullets  which 
won  1st,  2d  and  3d.  We  placed  one  of  his  pulletbred  cocks  1st  and 
another  4th.  He  came  to  us  later  and  asked  how  we  liked  the  4th 
cock,  and  we  remarked:  "He  has  no  under  barring,  is  almost  white 
half  way  to  the  skin."  Yes,  said  Mr.  Waldron,  "I  have  sold  better 
looking  males  for  $5  but  I  paid  $50  for  this  fellow  because  he  was 
bred  right  and  he  is  the  sire  of  my  three  winning  pullets." 

There  is  a  true  story  of  a  man  in  the  northern  Wisconsin  woods 
who  bred  a  certain  variety  for  many  years.  Every  year  or  two  he 
would  send  to  the  breeder  of  an  old  established  strain  for  a  new  bird, 
sometimes  a  male,  sometimes  a  female.  Never  did  he  receive,  for  the 
price  he  paid,  a  specimen  as  good  as  his  own  best  birds,  and  yet 
his  new  purchase  always  resulted  in  producing  better  birds  than  he 
ever  had  before.  That  was  because  the  birds  which  were  shipped 
to  him  had  been  bred  right  for  generations,  and  carried  the  rich, 
strong  blood  lines  of  a  valuable  strain. 

Still  fewer  birds  are  purchased  on  known  performance  as  breeders. 
because  the  life  of  a  fowl  is  relatively  short  and  by  the  time  a  bird 
is  a  proven  breeder  the  owner  is  reluctant  to  part  with  it.  These 
known  producers  are  not  always  the  image  of  the  Standard  illustra- 
tions but  may  be  rather  rustic  appearing.  They  invariably  are  birds 
of  evident  vitality,  standing  strong  and  linn  on  legs  and  toes,  broad 
backed  and  well  chested.  Not  infrequently  they  are  found  to  carry 
some  defects  that  prohibit  them  from  taking  part  in  the  great  con- 
tests in  the  show  rooms  and  limit  their  career  to  the  breeding  yard. 
This  is  not  altogether  unfortunate  for  many  a  finished  cockerel  of 
great  promise  has  been  enfeebled  by  over  showing  and  is  then  brought 
home  and  mated  to  too  many  females.  This  is  one  reason  many 
cockerels  never  "come  back"  as  cocks  and  the  rougher  bird  at  home 
proves  the  stronger  breeder. 

Fortunately  for  the  poultry  breeder,  the  demand  for  males  is 
equal  to  that  for  females.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  While  one  male 
may  be  mated  to  eight  to  fifteen  females,  depending  on  range,  etc., 
everybody  is  not  just  starting  with  poultry  and  in  the  market  for 
foundation  stock.  Many  have  the  females  and  they  simply  need  new 
males.  There  are  a  great  many  Hocks  of  the  popular  American 
breeds  throughout  the  country  and  the  big  progress  and  big  improve- 
ment in  building  up  that  stock  of  the  general  people,  rests  in  the 
use  of  good  males.  "A  good  male  is  half  the  flock,  a  poor  one  is 
more  than  half."  A  good  female  is  of  value  in  the  hands  of  the 
breeder,  but  the  good  of  a  breed  is  distributed  and  put  into  circula- 
tion by  the  males.  The  blood  of  good  breeding  females  is  only  dissi- 
pated when  in  the  hands  of  an  or'dinary  breeder;  in  the  hands  of  a 
good  breeder  that  same  blood  is  invaluable.  The  instances  of 
breeders  getting  ahead  through  the  purchase  of  high-priced  females 
rather  than  males,  are  relatively  few.  On  the  whole,  it  requires  more 
pains  and  intelligent  handling  to  develop  a  male  than  it  does  a  female. 


54  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

A  somewhat  larger  proportion  of  males  show  poorer  build  and  less 
symmetry  and  finish,  than  females. 

Fully  mature  breeding  birds  of  both  sexes  when  mated  together 
are  the  more  dependable  producers  of  the  truly  masculine  type  of 
male,  which  is  necessary  if  a  cockerel  is  to  display  that  vitality, 
strength  of  bone,  substance  of  body  and  finish  of  plumage  that  is 
required  in  the  1st  prize  winners  at  the  leading  shows.  A  successful 
breeder  of  males  recently  remarked  that  every  fall  he  "puts  away" 
some  of  his  best  pullets  and  "forgets  about  them"  until  they  are 
hens,  when  they  are  employed  in  the  breeding  yards. 

The  function  of  breeding  is  to  put  potential  qualities  into  that  new 
organism  which  is  to  develop  from  the  germ  and  bursts  its  envelope 
and  usher  forth  into  the  world,  and  accompanying  its  inheritance 
of  shape  and  color  must  be  a  vital  strength  that  will  enable  the 
chick  to  make  a  full  and  successful  development.  This  pronounced 
vitality  cannot  be  acquired,  it  too  must  be  inherited  from  thrifty, 
mature  breeding  stock. 


CHAPTER  IV 
BREED  TYPE 

Standard  of  shape — Relation  of  size  to  type — Importance  of  plumage 
— Body  shape  and  typical  shape — Body  shape  of  good  layers — Breed- 
ing shape  for  high  egg  yield — Typical  shape  of  breeds — An  explana- 
tion of  the  different  sections. 

While  the  Rocks,  Wyandottes  and  Reds  are  closely  allied,  each 
breed  has  a  type  which  distinguishes  it.  Years  ago  T.  F.  McGrew 
said  that  "shape  makes  the  breed,"  because  each  breed  should  be 
bred  to  a  definite  shape  and  specimens  which  vary  greatly  from  this 
accepted  type  are  not  worthy  members  of  the  breed.  It  is  therefore 
important,  if  we  are  to  have  typical  specimens  of  the  race,  to  know 
what  the  Standard  type  is.  If  we  refer  to  page  56  and  look  at  the 
profile  of  a  typical  Plymouth  Rock  hen,  we  see  that  her  back  is  of 
medium  length  with  a  slight  concave  to  tail,  while  the  back  of  the 
Rhode  Island  Red  is  long  and  flat,  and  that  of  the  Wyandotte  is 
moderately  short  and  full. 

In  addition  to  this  question  of  conformation,  there  are  certain 
breed  characteristics  such  as  the  rose  comb  and  round  head  in  the 
Wyandotte,  which  are  important  points  in  lending  distinctiveness  to 
the  breed.  These  distinctive  points  are  often  referred  to  as  breed 
characteristics  and  their  perfection  gives  breed  character  to  any  speci- 
men possessing  them. 

Judging  the  shape  of  a  bird.  The  standards  of  shape  for  the 
breeds  take  form  in  the  breeder's  mind  only  after  study  and  obser- 
vation afford  a  true  basis  for  knowledge,  but  once  the  standard  is 
visualized,  the  judgment  of  the  eye  becomes  quick  and  accurate  and 
may  be  trusted  in  preference  to  mechanical  measurements  of  different 
sections.  To  distinctly  fix  a  clear  ideal  in  the  mind  is  absolutely 
essential,  and  this  not  only  includes  the  general  features,  but  also 
the  minor  points,  for  competition  nowadays  is  so  keen  that  nothing- 
may  be  neglected  if  winners  are  to  be  put  down  in  fast  company. 
Definite  and  complete  knowledge  leads  to  a  discriminating  eye  and 
correct  judgment. 

Birds  are  judged  in  the  showroom  by  either  of  two  systems, 
score  card  or  comparison,  and  the  show  management  decides  on  the 
method  to  be  employed. 

The  purpose  of  the  score  card  is  to  record  a  mathematical  valua- 
tion which  a  competent  judge  gives  to  the  defects  that  are  found 
in  each  section  of  the  bird  being  scored.  The  cuts,  as  made  by  the 
judge,  are  then  added,  and  their  sum  total  is  deducted  from  100,  which 
is  the  numerical  value  given  to  perfection.  Thus  a  bird  that  is  cut 

55 


BREED  TYPE  57 

six  points    scores   94.     The    highest    scoring   specimen   wins    1st,   the 
second  highest  scoring  bird,  2d,  and  so  on. 

The  comparative  method  of  judging  requires  that  the  judge  make 
a  mental  comparison  of  the  specimens  on  exhibition,  and  prizes  are 
then  awarded  by  the  judge  according  to  the  apparent  rank  of  the 
birds.  This  system  is  the  more  rapid,  and  also  the  more  satisfactory 
when  large  classes  of  birds  of  superior  and  nearly  equal  quality  are 
shown.  In  the  actual  practice  of  applying  the  score  card,  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  meet  all  the  line  gradations  of  stature,  type,  feather 
and  color  with  that  mathematical  accuracy  which  good  score  card 
judging  requires,  and  judgment  of  the  eye  commonly  proves  to  be  the 
better  measure. 

Relation  of  size  to  type.  The  quality  presented  by  a  bird  is  rela- 
tive. It  is  better  or  worse.  Even  weight  which  might  appear  to  be 
positive,  because  it  can  be  determined  by  the  scales,  is,  after  all, 
relative,  because  weight  should  be  proportionate  to  the  size  of  the 
bird,  and  a  bird  that  meets  the  Standard  weight  requirement  because 
it  is  fat,  yet  does  not  possess  sufficient  stature,  fails  in  its  general 
set-up  to  meet  the  true  Standard  of  typical  shape.  Size  is  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  American  breeds.  Birds  that  are  more  than  two 
pounds  under  Standard  weight  are  disqualified  in  showrooms  where 
the  Standard  of  Perfection  is  enforced.  Both  weight  and  size  arc 
printed  on  the  official  score  cards  and  although  a  bird  may  be  up  to 
Standard  weight,  it  may  still  be  deficient  in  size. 

In  judging  size,  the  bird  should  have  a  reasonably  large  frame  and 
be  reasonably  well  fleshed.  An  especially  fat  specimen  is  never  prime 
for  breeding  purposes.  Birds  and  breeds  that  fat  uncommonly  easily 
are  usually  weak  sexually.  The  Dorking  breeders,  whose  fowls  fur- 
nished the  prime  table  poultry  of  England  half  a  century  ago,  helped 
to  spoil  their  own  breeding  stock,  by  fleshing  their  best  specimens 
so  that  when  a  judge  laid  his  hand  on  the  breast  it  was  plump  and 
full.  Fat  males  are  inclined  to  give  low  fertility  and  over-fat  females 
often  lay  soft-shelled  or  misshapen  eggs.  Cornish  breeders  are  today 
experiencing  the  ill  effects  of  over-conditioned  birds. 

Where  heavy  egg  yield  is  the  sole  object  in  breeding,  size  is 
easily  lost,  for  the  best  layers  are  frequently  the  smaller  specimens 
within  the  breed.  For  this  reason  it  is  difficult  to  hold  size  in  highly 
specialized  egg  strains  of  the  American  breeds. 

Every  poultryman  can  recall  instances  of  pullets  starting  to  lay 
early  in  life  before  they  had  attained  the  proportions  and  weight 
that  are  typical  of  the  breed  and  they  never  did  grow  to  sufficient 
size. 

O.  F.  Mittendorff  of  Illinois,  who  has  specialized  for  some  years 
in  breeding  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  for  eggs,  has  an  eye  for  size 
that  he  may  have  typical  birds  to  comprise  his  flock,  and  he  meets 
the  issue  by  giving  preference  to  a  pullet  that  devotes  the  first  200 
days  to  growth  and  development  of  body.  This  means  that  the 


58 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


pullet  starts  laying  when  about  seven  months  of  age.  She  not  only 
*  attains  good  size  in  that  time,  but  is  evidently  better  fitted  to  stand 
up  under  the  strain  that  metabolic  demands  make  upon  her  system, 
as  she  proceeds  to  convert  a  large  amount  of  feed  into  a  big  number 
of  eggs.  In  other  words,  she  is  not  a  precocious  pullet  that  starts  to 
lay  very  young,  before  full  growth  is  attained,  and  then  never  does 
develop  into  a  Standardsized  bird.  The  pullet  that  is  well  grown 
before  laying  commences  has  a  large  frame  and  can  carry  consider- 
able flesh,  somewhat  similar  to  a  dairy  cow  about  to  go  on  test  and 
whicli  has  been  put  in  good  flesh  prior  to  the  lactation  period. 

It  usually  happens  that  pullets,  which  begin  to  lay  November  1, 
gain  steadily  in  weight  until  March  1,  increasing  to  the  extent  of  about 
one  pound  in  the  American  breeds;  and  then  generally  fall  off  in 
weight  until  September  or  October. 

Importance  of  Plumage.  Plumage  has  a  great  deal  to  do  in  giv- 
ing shape  to  a  bird.  It  has  all  to  do  with  the  shape  of  the  tail  and 
wings  and  much  to  do  with  the  outline  of  the  back.  In  fact,  the 
entire  contour  of  the  bird  is  largely  dependent  upon  feather  develop- 
ment. The  neck  of  a  dressed  cock,  for  instance,  is  insignificant  in 
size  compared  to  the  neck  with  flowing  hackle  of  a  live  cock.  If  you 
strip  the  feathers  from  a  Wyandotte  and  Rhode  Island  Red  hen,  and 

lay  the  two  carcasses  to- 
gether, there  will  not  be  the 
difference  in  body  shape  that 
the  living  specimens  seemed 
to  indicate.  The  Wyandotte 
hen's  back  and  body  plumage 
were  quite  full,  giving  her 
an  appearance  that  was  short 
in  comparison  with  her 
length,  while  the  flat,  hori- 
zontal back,  low,  straight- 
out  tail  and  relatively  tight 
feather  of  the  Red  added  to 
her  apparent  length.  Breed- 
ers know  the  importance  and 
appreciate  the  value  of  feath- 
er formation;  they  know  how 
dependent  is  profile  shape 
upon  a  properly  bred  and 
properly  developed  coat  of 
plumage. 

Feather  growth  is  costly. 
Growing  chickens  or  molt- 
ing fowls  requite  nitrogen- 

Relation     of     Plumage,     Flesh     and     Skeleton,        OUS      f°°d      tO      Produce      the 
Reproduced  by  courtesy  Pratt  Food  Company.        plumage.      A    profuse    feather 


Copyright. 


BREED  TYPE  59 

type  is  not  as  practical  as  a  farm  chicken  as  the  harder  feathered 
types;  and  the  American  breeds  present  an  intermediate  tendency  in 
this  respect,  not  being  as  tight  feathered  as  the  Game  or  as  long  and 
profusely  feathered  as  the  Cochin.  Some  types  are  useful.  Some  are 
expensive  to  produce.  A  type  that  depends  for  its  shape  on  great  length 
and  profuseness  of  feather  is  costly  to  develop,  because  the  full 
plumage  has  to  be  grown  as  well  as  the  bone  and  body  of  the  bird. 
Some  types  are  dangerous  to  produce,  because  they  are  extreme  and 
enfeeblement  in  the  breed  has  followed  their  development. 

Plumage  adds  finish.  A  cockerel  may  appear  somewhat  ungainly, 
but  as  he  grows  and  develops  a  proper  plumage,  he  may  "fill  out." 
There  are  many  competent  critics  of  mature  birds  and  when  the  win- 
ter issues  of  the  poultry  journals  come  out,  illustrated  with  pictures 
of  the  winners  at  the  winter  shows,  there  follows  a  great  deal  of 
consideration  and  much  discussion  of  the  outlines  of  those  finished 
specimens.  The  average  man  has  the  profiles  of  the  Standard  well  i« 
mind.  A  really  good  judge,  however,  is  one  who  can  see  the  possi- 
bilities in  a  young  growing  bird. 

A  man  once  visited  the  yards  of  Arthur  G.  Duston,  Massachusetts, 
and  his  eye  fell  upon  a  White  Wyandotte  cockerel  and  he  spoke  of 
the  bird  as  possessing  wonderful  possibilities.  That  winter  this 
cockerel,  out  of  several  hundred  that  Mr.  Duston  raised,  won  1st 
at  the  Madison  Square  Garden  Show. 

When  the  White  Orpingtons  were  introduced  we  went  to  England 
and  visited  a  number  of  breeders,  including  Rev.  A.  Nodder  who 
had  some  splendid  maturing  young  stock.  He  had  won  1st  at  Hay- 
wards  Heath,  one  of  the  best  early  shows,  on  a  cockerel  that  was 
one  of  the  most  promising  young  males  to  be  found  in  all  England. 
His  tremendous  bone  and  heavy  body  were  plain,  but  he  was  short 
in  hackle  feather  and  he  was  not  finished  in  tail,  needing  more  time 
in  which  to  complete  the  development  of  feather  upon  which  typical 
shape  is  so  dependent. 

The  publication  of  a  picture  of  this  bird  failed  to  create  a  ripple, 
although  another  English  breeder  exported  $12,000  worth  of  stock 
and  eggs  that  year.  Too  few  could  size  up  the  quality  of  the  Nodder 
stock  by  the  unfinished  male,  although  if  they  had  sought  in  their 
own  yards  for  a  cockerel  of  even  age,  equal  to  the  one  in  the  picture, 
they  would  have  found  that  many  of  their  own  birds  had  shanks 
like  pencils,  while  the  Nodder  cockerel  was  standing  on  mill  posts. 
Try  to  visualize  the  possibilities  of  your  young  stock,  cull  out  the 
less  promising,  and  give  the  advantages  of  yard  space,  feed  and 
care  to  those  that  give  promise  of  fulfilling  the  outlines  of  the  typical 
specimen.  Get  them  to  roost  early  in  life  (on  roosts  4  inches  wide), 
so  that  the  air  can  circulate  all  around  them;  and  see  that  their  tail 
plumage  does  not  butt  against  the  wall,  for  remember  that  their 
finish  will  depend  in  a  large  degree  upon  feather  growth, 


60  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

Feather  is  not  merely  to  meet  the  Standard  requirements  and  fulfill 
the  eye  of  the  breeder  and  judge.  Feather  is  one  of  the  important 
points  in  indicating  the  masculinity  of  a  male.  Immature  cockerels 
are  equally  immature  in  plumage.  Males  of  low  constitutional  vigor 
never  develop  wealth  and  furnish  of  feather.  Full  development  of 
feather  is  typical  of  the  mature,  virile  male.  It  gives  him  masculinity 
and  markedly  distinguishes  him  from  the  female.  A  weak  and  effemi- 
nate male  invariably  lacks  the  complete  coat  of  plumage  which  is  a 
sex  character  of  a  strong,  virile  cock. 

A  strong  head  and  large  face  are  points  that  also  determine  mas- 
culinity. Too  many  males  are  effeminate  in  head  features.  In  addi- 
tion may  be  mentioned  substance,  as  a  quality  which  gives  body  to 
the  male  and  makes  of  him  ''a  rooster."  Insistence  on  good  substance 
eliminates  from  consideration  all  narrow  bodied,  long  legged  birds, 
which,  like  the  scantily  feathered  ones,  are  usually  weak. 

Body  shape  and  typical  shape.  The  American  Poultry  Associa- 
tion has  failed  to  differentiate  between  the  features  that  arise  from 
body  formation  and  those  that  are  to  be  attributed  to  plumage  and 
has,  for  instance,  considered  length  of  neck,  and  contour  of  neck,  as 
shape  of  neck,  although  the  one  is  dependent  on  bone  structure  and 
the  other  is  an  outline  dependent  upon  plumage. 

There  are  but  two  descriptions  in  the  Standard  and  two  sections 
on  the  score  card,  one  for  shape,  the  other  for  color.  This  naturally 
leads  to  an  over-emphasis  of  type  as  determined  by  plumage,  although 
in  a  few  breeds,  such  as  Exhibition  Games,  where  feather  is  bred  as 
short,  narrow  and  hard  as  possible,  it  has  led  to  an  abnormal  struc- 
ture of  body,  resulting  in  a  height  or  reach  that  impairs  the  utility 
functions  of  those  fowls.  An  understanding  of  structure  and  feather 
as  separate  factors  which  contribute  to  shape,  is  desirable;  the  study 
of  the  exterior  alone  is  superficial  and  leads  to  ephemeral  ideals. 

What  a  bird  looks  like  in  the  yard  or  show  coop  and  how  the 
same  bird  handles  in  the  hand  of  the  breeder  are  two  separate  mat- 
ters. A  cockerel  may  have  a  pleasing  outline,  but  upon  handling 
it  is  found  that  he  has  a  thin  thigh,  a  poorly  fleshed  breast,  a  pent-up 
keel  bone,  or  a  crooked  breast  bone. 

A  few  of  the  points  of  body  formation  must  be  cut  on  the  score 
card  when  they  are  found  defective,  and  the  growing  tendency  is  to 
take  body  formation  more  and  more  into  consideration.  In  order 
to  distinguish  between  body  formation  and  general  outline,  we  recom- 
mend the  use  of  the  score  card  shown  on  page  61,  which  we  devised 
after  several  years  of  experience  in  judging  score  card  shows. 

We  found  that  the  typical  shape  of  the  bird  could  only  be  secured 
when  the  bird  posed  naturally  in  the  coop.  The  moment  you  touched 
him,  he  might  crowd  to  one  side  of  the  cage,  or  pinch  down  his 
feathers  and  thus  lose  his  typical  carriage.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  defects  of  body  formation  that  should  be  cut  in  scoring,  such 
as  a  crooked  breast,  and  this  fault  could  only  be  determined  by  taking 


SCORE  CARD 

(Name  of  poultry  show  association  here) 

(Date  of  show  and  address  of  association  here) 

E.VII  ibitor  

yariel  y  SV  r 

Entry    \o                                  B 

md  No  Weight  

Typical     Body 
Shape     Shape 

Color 

Remarks 

Symmetry    

Weight  or  Sice  

i 

Condition     

Comb    

Head     
Beak    

Eyes    

Wattles  and  I'.ar  Lobes. 

I 

Neck    ! 

IVings     
Bach 



Tail    •  

Breast         .          .... 

Body  and  Fluff 

EC  at  and   Toes 

*C>'cst  and  Beard 

^Shortness  of  Feather 
Total  Cuts  

i 
11 

.  .  .  .Score  

.  .   ludac 

Srrrptarv 

*  Applies  to  crested  breeds.     |  Applies  to  Games  and  Game  Bantama. 

62  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

the  bird  in  hand  and  feeling  his  breast  bone.  The  division  of  shape, 
therefore,  was  designed  as  a  practical  advance  in  score  card  judging. 

New  points  are  now  being  introduced,  such  as  abdominal  capacity 
and  shape  of  pelvic  bones.  They,  too,  are  distinct  from  typical  shape 
or  general  outline  and  deserve  separate  examination  and  recording. 

Body  shape  of  good  layers.  Because  the  general  appearance  of 
laying  hens  varies  greatly,  it  was  for  a  long  time  assumed  that  there 
was  no  egg  type.  Egg  capacity,  however,  has  been  found  correlated 
with  body  formation,  and  that  general  appearance  of  the  bird  which 
is  dependent  on  the  plumage  may  continue  to  vary  in  different  high 
producers.  It  has  been  found  that  the  good  layers  have  large  intes- 
tinal development  to  permit  the  assimilation  and  elimination  of  large 
quantities  of  food. 


1 


Large  and  small  abdominal  capacity.  The  bird  on  the  left  has 
large  intestines.  The  bird  on  the  right  is  "dried  up,"  having  small 
Intestinal  capacity. 

The  carcass  to  the  left  in  the  illustration  of  dressed  fowls  shown 
herewith,  shows  good  intestinal  development.  The  abdomen  in  the 
live  bird  was  large  and  soft.  Large  intestines  are  a  fundamental 
in  good  layers;  but  a  large  abdomen  or  belly  that  is  full  and  hard 
indicates  layers  of  fat  around  the  entrails  rather  than  large  intestines, 
and  such  a  hen  is  of  the  meat  type  rather  than  the  egg  type.  The 
body  of  a  heavy  layer  in  the  flush  of  laying  should  not  only  be  large 
but  found  to  be  soft  and  pliable  when  your  finger  is  gently  pressed 
against  the  abdomen. 

Culling  the  flock.  Abdominal  capacity  is  measured  by  the  dis- 
tance between  the  end  of  breastbone  and  the  pelvic  bones.  The  car- 
cass to  the  right  shows  small  egg  capacity,  the  breastbone  curving 
toward  the  pelvic  bones  so  that  not  more  than  two  fingers  can  be 
placed  between  them.  Following  are  shown  the  methods  of  measuring 
this  capacity  in  living  specimens.  On  either  side  of  the  vent,  just 
below  the  vent  are  the  ends  of  the  two  pelvic  or  lay  bones.  They  may 


BREED  TYPE 


63 


be  easily  felt  through  the  thin  skin  of  the  abdomen,  as  they  are  well 
developed.  Some  aerial  species  of  birds  have  small  development  of 
pelvis,  but  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  domestic  hen. 

The   distance    from    the   pelvic   bones    to    the    rear   end   of  keel   or 


Two   Fingers   Capacity   Between   the   Pelvic   Bones   and   End  of  Breast- 
bone— This  Hen  Should  Be  Culled  and   Marketed. 

breastbone,  varies  from  one  to  seven  fingers.  The  larger  capacity 
indicates  the  better  layer.  With  this  should  be  considered  the  soft- 
ness of  the  abdomen.  Fat  around  the  intestines  will  make  the  abdo- 
men relatively  hard,  whereas  in  the  hen  of  high  potential  egg-laying 


64 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OE  POULTRY 


capacity,  the  abdomen  is  rather  soft  and  pliable  like  the  udder  of  a 
cow  after  milking. 

The  bony  structure  of  the  pelvis  should  also  be  considered.  Lay- 
bones  in  strictly  egg-type  females  run  from  about  %  inch  in  thick- 
ness to  about  y$  inch.  Over  this  and  up  to  1  inch  and  even  \l/2  inch 
is  the  beef  type.  However,  a  flock  of  White  Plymouth  Rock  hens 


Four  fingers  capacity.  If  coupled  with  this  capacity,  the  abdomen 
is  soft  and  pliable  like  the  udder  of  a  cow  that  has  been  milked,  and 
the  pelvic  bones  are  reasonably  thin  and  flexible,  this  is  a  satisfactory 
hen  to  keep. 

can  be  graded  too  closely  on  the  laybone  test,  because  the  females 
of  a  large  breed  of  this  kind  seem  to  naturally  carry  a  somewhat 
heavier  bone.  A  safe  rule  is  that  the  laybone  should  tend  to  thin- 
ness. They  should  be  straight  out  and  rather  pliable  when  the  tip 
ends  of  the  two  bones  are  gently  pressed  together.  When  a  hen  lays 


BREED  TYPE  65 

an  egg,  it  comes  out  the  vent  passing  between  the  pelvic  arch.  The 
thin  bone  that  is  pliable  indicates  easy  passage  of  egg,  enabling  the 
lien  to  lay  her  egg  quickly.  She  is  thus  released  to  scratch  and  gather 
the  food  nutrients  that  are  required  to  form  an  egg  for  the  next  day. 
Such  a  hen  is  an  easy  layer,  soon  off  the  nest  and  busy  scratching, 
wearing  down  her  toenails. 

In  the  hen  has  curved  pelvic  bones,  curved  together  like  a  pair  of 
cow's  horns,  and  they  are  rigid,  not  pliable,  we  would  cull  her  out, 
even  though  she  had  fair  capacity.  Hens  with  thick  bones  put  on  fat 
easily.  The  thin  bone  is  an  indication  of  the  egg  type  or  temperament 
which  readily  converts  the  feed  consumed  into  eggs.  J.  W.  Parks' 
325  egg  hen,  Miss  Smarty,  has  laybones  y2  inch  thick.  The  feature, 
however,  is  counterbalanced  by  an  enormous  crop,  7  finger  abdomen 
and  large  body. 

Internal  organs.  It  cannot  be  said  that  body  measurements  and 
the  laybone  test  are  an  infallible  guide.  The  trapnest  is  the  sure  guide, 
just  as  the  milk  test  rather  than  the  capacious  barrel  and  roomy  udder 
is  the  sure  test  in  judging  dairy  cows.  The  correlation  is  not  a  unity, 
but  the  value  of  body  formation  is  so  great  that  it  deserves  equal  recog- 
nition with  other  points  of  conformation.  After  all,  we  cannot  judge 
the  whole  bird.  The  viscera  is  entirely  hidden  from  our  view,  and  yet 
if  those  internal  organs  fail  to  perform  their  function,  if  because  of 
faulty  heart  tissue  the  circulatory  system  fails  in  the  assimilation  and 
distribution  of  the  digested  food  constituents,  the  bodily  organism  must 
fail  and  the  bird  die.  Our  judgment  is  limited  to  the  somatic  features 
and  any  part  of  the  body  which  we  can  examine  and  which  may  have 
a  relationship  with  the  internal  functioning  of  the  animal  should  not 
be  dismissed  as  unworthy  of  our  attention. 

The  heart,  gizzard  and  intestines  are  hidden  from  view,  yet  we 
know  that  we  want  large  vital  organs,  for  if  birds  are  to  grow  fast  and 
lay  with  intensity,  they  must  be  equipped  to  digest  large  amounts  of 
food  quickly.  Of  course,  we  do  not  want  a  heart  in  a  chicken  as  strong 
as  the  heart  of  a  lion,  for  the  single  beat  of  such  an  organ  would  send 
blood  rushing  through  the  valves  with  such  a  pressure  that  it  woulr; 
burst  the  arteries;  but  we  do  want  internal  strength  proportionate  with 
the  life,  necessary  activity  and  designated  purpose  of  the  species. 

Selecting  breeders  for  shape  to  produce  heavy  laying  offspring. 
There  is  much  that  is  invisible,  particularly  that  which  is  carried  in  the 
invisible  cells  of  the  reproductive  organs.  Mendelism  and  the  segrega- 
tion of  characters  have  shown  that  birds  are  impure  in  some  respects, 
even  though  we  consider  them  as  coming  from  a  pure  breeding  strain 
and  look  upon  the  chickens  of  a  single  purebred  flock  as  identical  in 
composition.  If  the  body  and  laybone  tests  are  rejected,  extensive 
breeding  experiments  must  be  carried  on  to  determine  which  male 
carries  the  factor  for  high  egg  production  and  if  a  prepotent  trans- 
mitter of  that  factor.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Woods,  director  of  the  Maine 


66  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  at  which  Dr.  Raymond  Pearl  did  his 
notable  breeding  work,  writes: 

The  test  always  comes  in  the  number  of  eggs  that  the  pullet  offspring  produces. 
These  records  can  be  obtained  only  from  trapnesting  and  recording  accurately  the 
records  of  the  individual  fowl.  Hence,  if  the  producing  qualities  of  birds  in  a  flock 
are  known  for  a  few  years  it  is  possible,  with  reasonable  accuracy  and  correct 
analysis  of  the  data,  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  which  birds  carry  the  hereditary  factors 
for  egg  production.  There  are,  as  you  say,  nine  possible  classes  of  males  carrying 
the  factor  for  high  egg  production  or  its  allelomorph.  These  classes  will  not,  of 
course,  be  in  equal  numbers.  Only  one  of  the  classes  will  carry  no  factor  for  egg 
production,  and  only  one  of  the  classes  will  carry  both  factors  for  egg  production, 
homogenous  in  the  individual.  All  possible  stages  in  between  are,  of  course,  possible. 

This  condition  respecting  the  Gametic  construction  of  the  germ 
cells,  justifies  the  practical  breeder  in  looking  for  some  easily  deter- 
mined, somatic  test,  such  as  body  capacity  and  pelvic  bone  formation. 
Experience  would  seem  to  justify  such  a  course.  F.  S.  Tarbill,  an  ex- 
perienced breeder  and  judge  writes: 

In  a  general  way  I  have  found  the  male  to  influence  the  egg-laying  qualities 
of  his  pullets  in  quite  a  marked  degree.  In  my  own  flock,  you  may  remember  the 
hen  which  was  third  at  Peoria  a  year  ago  last  winter.  She  was  the  mother  of  the 
first  cock  at  the  same  show.  Well,  this  hen  was  a  remarkable  layer.  I  trapped  her 
for  two  months  and  she  laid  fifty-seven  eggs  during  that  period,  and  also  kept  right 
on  all  summer  and  fall.  I  mated  her  to  her  own  cockerel,  which,  while  a  good 
exhibition  bird,  was  of  small  capacity  (one  and  one-half  fingers)  and  quite  heavy 
and  crooked  in  bone.  The  pullets  from  this  mating  were  comparatively  poor  layers  ; 
although  I  did  not  trap  them,  I  know  that  the  flock  average  that  year  was  poor  as 
compared  to  the  hen.  Last  season  I  mated  these  same  pullets  to  a  male  that  was 
extra  large  in  capacity  (four  fingers)  and  with  a  thin,  straight  pelvic  bone.  My 
next-door  neighbor  has  fourteen  pullets  from  this  mating.  They  are  not  selected, 
but  just  as  they  came,  and  they  have  laid  as  follows  since  the  first  of  the  year: 
January,  198  eggs;  February,  250;  March,  287,  and  up  to  the  13th  of  this  month 
(April),  124.  This  is  a  flock  average  of  about  sixty  percent — a  quite  perceptible 
increase  over  my  pullets  last  year;  but  as  figures  are  ladking  for  the  one  season, 'this 
may  be  of  no.  value  to  you. 

On  this  interesting  subject,  C.  R.  Baker,  specialty  breeder  of  Buff 
Plymouth  Rocks,  who  has  been  a  leading  winner  at  the  Chicago  and 
New  York  shows,  and  who  is  a  strong  advocate  of  the  body  formation 
test,  writes  as  follows: 

I  have  had  several  cases,  two  very  distinct  ones,  where  the  males  practically 
ruined  the  egg-laying  efficiency  of  their  pullets,  the  pullets'  dams  being  good  as 
layers  themselves.  Also,  we  have  had  decided  improvements  in  pullets  over  their 
dams  as  layers  when  sired  by  a  high-testing  male.  However,  I  cannot  state  definitely 
that  either  male  or  female  outweighs  the  other  in  influencing  the  pullets'  laying 
efficiency,  when  it  comes  to  taking  sex  alone  into  consideration.  I  want  them 
both  good,  and  an  exceedingly  poor  one  of  either  sex  is  discarded,  for  it  surely 
will  pull  down  its  mate,  as  we  have  demonstrated.  The  greater  the  prepotency  and 
vitality  of  either  specimen,  as  you  are  aware,  combined  with  its  egg-laying  efficiency, 
the  greater  will  be  the  degree  to  which  its  chicks  will  follow  its  tendencies. 

Body  shape  for  meat  production.  When  meat  property  is  the 
desideratum,  the  body  capacity  should  measure  about  four  fingers  from 
pelvis  to  end  of  keel,  and  the  pelvic  bones  should  be  heavy  with  gristle 
and  fat.  Such  a  hen  will  lay  on  fat  easily,  and  if  she  is  to  be  kept  in 
good  breeding  condition  she  should  be  fed  sparingly  and  exercise  <n- 


BREED  TYPE  67 

duced  by  scratching  in  litter  for  feed;  and  while  she  will  not  be  a  high 
layer,  the  eggs  she  lays  should  produce  big  boned  cockerels  of  good 
substance  and  good  fleshing  possibilities.  Such  birds  make  prime 
capons. 

The  breeder  must  always  have  a  definite  idea  of  what  he  is  aiming 
to  produce,  a  clear  conception  of  what  he  is  desirous  of  accomplishing, 
and  he  must  adhere  persistently  to  one  standard. 

Typical  shape  of  breeds.  No  matter  whether  you  breed  for  eggs  or 
meat,  the  distinctive  type  of  the  breed  should  not  be  sacrificed.  It  is 
comparatively  easy  to  build  up  a  flock  that  is  strong  in  any  one  point 
if  all  others  are  ignored.  Such  breeding  is  not  well  balanced,  and  such 
a  flock  can  never  excite  the  admiration  and  secure  the  plaudits  of  a  very 
large  section  of  the  interested  public.  Such  birds,  even  though  they 
are  of  pronounced  efficiency  in  their  own  particular  forte,  never  com- 
mand the  highest  prices.  Moreover,  highly  specialized  breeding  of 
this  kind  cannot  long  endure;  the  strain  so  built  lacks  permanence  and, 
if  it  is  not  reinforced  from  time  to  time  with  other  blood,  runs  out. 

"Shape  makes  the  breed  and  color  the  variety,"  and  no  breeder 
can  afford  to  sacrifice  the  shape  that  alone  makes  a  specimen  typical 
of  the  breed.  It  is  not  necessary  to  sacrifice  utility  in  order  to  get 
breed  character  in  the  Plymouth  Rocks,  Wyandcttes  and  Rhode 
Island  Reds  of  today,  for  the  standards  for  those  breeds  are  true, 
not  false  standards.  There  is  always  a  tendency  to  ride  hobbies,  to 
get  a  Wyandotte  a  little  shorter,  to  get  a  Red  a  little  longer  than  is 
typical  of  an  active,  normal  fowl.  However,  enough  old  races,  such 
as  the  round  bodied,  profusely  feathered  Cochin,  the  long  legged, 
short  feathered  Exhibition  Game,  and  the  elongated  Dorking,  have 
been  spoiled  as  commercially  profitable  fowls,  for  modern  breeders 
to  understand  the  importance  of  well-balanced,  symmetrically-built 
birds. 

Breeding  standardbred  poultry  is  not  merely  a  pastime  for  the 
rich,  or  a  game  in  which  silk  ribbons  and  silver  cups  are  offered  as 
prizes.  It  is  a  business  of  opportunities  and  responsibilities.  When 
during  the  show  in  New  York  one  of  the  great  metropolitan  dailies 
laid  aside  war,  politics  and  big  business,  and  came  out  with  an  illus- 
trated editorial  on  purebred  poultry,  it  was  to  mention,  not  the  win- 
ner of  a  prize,  or  the  player  of  a  game,  but  to  give  credit  to  a  great 
improver  of  domesticated  fowls. 

Purebred  poultry  must  always  justify  itself  from  an  economic 
standpoint,  otherwise  there  is  no  economic  reason  for  its  extension, 
or  no  basic  reason  for  its  existence  in  preference  to  scrubs  or  plain- 
breds.  It  is,  therefore,  of  capital  importance  that  breed  type  shoul  1 
be  developed  along  sane  lines,  so  that  the  nearer  the  makeup  of  a 
bird  approaches  to  standard  type,  the  more  dependably  useful  and 
truly  valuable  that  fowl  will  be  as  a  breeder  of  chickens  that  will 
grow  flesh  and  produce. 


68  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

Fads  are  ruinous.  We  are  not  unmindful  of  the  enthusiasm  of 
fanciers  and  the  fact  that  their  enthusiasm  will  always  lead  them  to 
lay  emphasis  on  the  smallest  points.  We  look  for  advancements 
from  none  other  than  those  who  have  this  interest  and  keen  percep- 
tion. Were  it  not  for  fanciers,  we  would  still  have  little  other  than 
the  old  dunghill  sort  of  fowls.  However,  artificial  selection  should 
never  be  encouraged  along  the  lines  of  ephemeral  standards,  and 
breeders,  judges  and  standard  makers  should  stop  to  inquire  which 
are  the  true  types  that  represent  the  greatest  usefulness  and  pro- 
ductiveness. 

Faddist  breeding  and  judging  in  our  great  American  breeds  should 
never  be  encouraged.  Hobbies  ruin  breeds,  and  fanciers  who  profess 
to  love  their  fowls,  should  not,  for  the  sake  of  making  money,  pur- 
sue a  course  that  is  detrimental  to  the  welfare  of  the  breed.  It  is  not 
morally  right  to  encourage  a  feature  that  strikes  at  the  vigor  and 
strength  of  the  race. 

No  breed  is  ours  to  ruin  if  we  choose;  we  inherited  it  from  that 
great  school  of  breeders  who  preceded  us;  we  leave  it  to  that  pos- 
terity which  shall  succeed  us.  They  have  a  right  to  expect  from  us  a 
Plymouth  Rock,  Wyandotte  or  Rhode  Island  Red  that  carries  vigor 
and  robustness,  maturing  qualities  and  prolificacy.  We  received  these 
breeds  as  the  giants  of  our  American  fowls — as  well  balanced  fowls, 
the  first  fowls  in  all  our  land.  We  are  the  custodian  of  them  for  a 
little  time.  Are  we  handing  them  down  to  each  succeeding  year 
unspoiled  and  unblemished  for  having  bred  them?  Are  we  stewards 
worthy  of  our  inheritance,  or  are  we  striving  to  make  a  little  money 
out  of  each  new  fad;  and,  in  judging,  do  we  prefer  to  cater  to  every 
impulse  and  caprice  of  petty  breeders  who,  never  having  learned  to 
see  a  whole  chicken,  make  hobbies  of  particular  sections? 

In  England  the  breeding  of  poultry  has  run  in  two  parallel  lines 
which  do  not  meet,  utility  and  fancy.  In  the  days  of  cheap  feed,  fancy 
ran  ahead.  Now  that  England  is  obliged  to  make  more  of  an  effort 
to  feed  herself,  and  finds  it  profitable  to  do  so,  the  utility  types  are 
hading  in  popularity  and  sales.  In  America  we  have  beauty  and 
utility  combined.  On  this  important  matter  of  fancy  and  utility 
combined  Pacific  Poultryman  has  printed  a  well  written,  unsigned 
article  from  which  we  quote: 

The  American  idea  of  utility  and  beauty  in  combination  in  domestic  animals 
and  birds  is  that  those  forms  and  elements  of  beauty  which  are  expressions  of  actual 
worth,  and  those  which  are  attractive  and  in  no  way  inimical  to  utility  qualities, 
should  be  cultivated,  but  that  those  which  are  in  any  measure  incompatible  with 
usefulness  ought  to  be  eliminated. 

A  section  for  symmetry.  The  complete  type  of  a  bird  is  built  up 
of  different  sections  which,  added  together,  make  the  whole  outline. 
Every  standard  shaped  specimen  of  good  vigor  is  a  bird  of  symmetry; 
that  is,  he  presents  a  balanced  structure,  for  there  is  a  perfection  to 
each  of  the  parts,  such  as  comb,  head,  legs,  wing,  back,  tail,  etc..  which 


BREED  TYPE  69 

combine  to  make  a  perfect  whole.  The  term  "symmetry"  has  been 
much  abused  and  the  abuse  has  lead  to  misunderstanding.  This  has 
resulted  from  symmetry  being  placed  in  the  scale  of  points  and  given 
a  valuation  of  four  points  out  of  the  one  hundred  which  is  thei 
numerical  valuation  given  as  the  sum  total  of  perfection. 

Symmetry  is  the  harmonious  blending  of  all  the  parts.  It  is  the 
harmony  of  proportion.  Many  judges  refuse  to  cut  a  bird  for  sym- 
metry, stating  that  when  they  cut  a  specimen  for  shape  of  neck,  back, 
tail,  wings,  breast,  body  and  legs,  they  have  proceeded  on  the  basis 
that  if  the  bird  in  question  were  corrected  in  those  faulty  sections  to 
the  extent  which  the  cut  represents,  the  result  would  be  a  perfect 
whole;  and  that  the  bird  cannot  in  fairness  be  cut  on  symmetry  of 
the  whole,  for  such  would  be  an  additional  and  superfluous  cut. 

If  a  bird  should  be  cut  for  color  in  each  section  in  which  it  is 
defective,  and  then  cut  for  harmony  of  color  as  a  whole,  the  cut 
would  be  as  justifiable  as  a  cut  for  harmony  of  proportion  or  sym- 
metry. We  pointed  out  this  fact  to  the  American  Poultry  Associa- 
tion Convention  at  Atlantic  City  in  1913,  and  symmetry  was  dropped 
from  the  scale  of  points,  only  to  be  reinstated  to  its  former  position 
at  the  next  meeting  held  in  Chicago,  when  men  who  had  never 
judged  a  bird  and  knew  little  of  applying  the  scale  of  points  to  speci- 
mens, arose  and  talked  about  every  animal  having  a  symmetry  of 
form,  and  so  befouling  the  issue  that  the  popular  vote  was  cast  in 
favor  of  symmetry  as  a  distinct  and  separate  feature  in  the  shape  of 
specimens. 

I.  K.  Felch,  the  father  of  the  score  card,  was  opposed  to  a  section 
for  symmetry.  He  maintained  that  it  enabled  judges  to  award  prizes 
under  suspicion,  for  after  cutting  for  defective  shape  in  the  different 
shape  sections,  judges  were  privileged  to  give  a  bird  an  additional 
cut  for  symmetry — a  cut  that  was  not  explained,  since  it  defied  ex- 
planation, and  the  bird  so  cut  lost  in  close  competition  with  the  one 
passed  as  perfect  in  symmerry. 

Sections  considered  in  judging.  The  different  sections  of  a  bird 
are  given  on  the  score  card,  page  61,  and  the  different  parts  of 
a  bird  are  shown  in  the  diagram  of  the  male,  page  70.  It  is  im- 
portant that  the  breeder  should  become  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
names  of  the  different  parts. 

We  recall  that  when  the  Silver  Penciled  Wyandotte  first  came 
out,  and  the  variety  was  first  illustrated,  we,  as  a  beginner,  set  for 
ourselves  the  task  of  learning  the  different  sections.  At  that  time  the 
nomenclature  in  the  Standard  of  Perfection  was  a  caricature,  and 
poultry  literature  as  a  whole  was  in  a  very  feeble  stage.  As  we  read 
the  sections  under  the  Standard  caricature,  and  applied  them  to  the 
Silver  Penciled  Wyandotte  male,  we  wondered  if  we  should  ever  be 
able  to  learn  and  to  know  the  different  sections. 

We   remember,   too,   that   the  wing   was   the    first   section    that  we 


70 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


ever  actually  saw  in  a  chicken.  Theretofore,  we  had  looked  at  a 
bird  as  a  whole  and  had  not  seen  that  the  whole  was  made  up  of 
parts  in  which  pronounced  variations  migh  occur.  Again,  it  was  a 
long  time  before  we  could  see  the  brass  or  straw  color  on  the  back 
of  a  White  Wyandotte  male.  The  bird  seemed  to  be  white  enough, 
and  it  was  a  source  of  secret  discouragement  to  have  others  speak 
of  "brass"  which  we  could  not  see.  Since  that  time,  we  have  officiated 

POINT? 


Diagram  of  Male,   Showing  Different  Sections. 

as  a  judge  at  the  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago  shows, 
and  have  served  on  a  committee  of  judges  to  award  the  special  for 
the  best  bird  in  the  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York,  show.  If 
this  little  personal  history  will  prove  a  source  of  inspiration  and 
encouragement,  we  shall  feel  compensated  for  the  diversion  into 
intimacies. 

We   received   our   early   training  in   score   card   shows.     When   a 


BREED  TYPE  71 

beginner  is  asked  to  participate  in  a  comparison  show,  he  is  being 
asked  to  read  before  he  can  spell;  he  is  being  asked  to  sum  up  the 
value  of  the  whole  bird  before  he  is  acquainted  with  the  parts  that 
make  the  whole.  Comparison  judging  is  the  quickest  and  most 
accurate  means  of  placing  prizes;  but  the  analytical  value  of  the 
score  card  makes  of  the  exhibition  a  far  better  schoolroom  for 
beginners. 

As  ground  work  for  a  liberal  understanding  of  what  constitutes 
a  good  specimen,  let  us  discuss  the  sections  one  by  one.  We  shall 
consider  the  three  breeds,  Rocks,  Wyandottes  and  Reds  together, 
for  how  are  we  to  know  what  "medium"  means  in  the  Rock,  unless 
we  see  and  understand  what  "short"  means  in  the  Wyandotte  and 
"long"  means  in  the  Rhode  Island  Red? 

Explanation  of  the  different  sections.  Back:  The  back  is  the 
one  section  which  gives  the  greatest  distinction  to  a  bird  or  a  breed. 
In  the  Plymouth  Rock  the  back  should  be  of  medium  length.  The 
tendency  among  prominent  breeders  is  to  produce  backs  that  are 
longer  rather  than  shorter  of  medium.  This  is  particularly  noticeable 
in  the  best  males. 

The  back  of  the  Rock  should  be  carried  horizontal.  A  back  that 
slopes  down  to  the  tail,  like  a  shed  roof,  throws  up  the  breast  and 
throws  down  the  tail  and  spoils  the  typical  carriage  of  the  specimen. 
The  back  should  be  broad  at  the  shoulders  and  the  breadth  should 
be  carried  back  all  the  way  to  the  tail.  Sometimes  the  long  feathers 
that  grow  out  of  the  sides  of  the  back  are  bent  and  broken  back- 
wards or  steamed  up,  so  as  to  give  apparent  width  to  the  back. 
However,  the  true  proportions  may  be  determined  by  taking  the 
bird  in  the  hands  and  feeling  the  width  across  the  hips.  The  plumage 
on  top  of  the  back,  near  the  tail,  should  be  full  enough  to  make  a 
slight  concave  sweep  of  back  to  tail. 

In  the  Wyandotte,  the  plumage  of  the  back  is  more  roundly 
developed.  The  male's  saddle  should  be  broad  and  rise  with  a  full 
development  to  tail.  The  female's  back  should  likewise  have  a  full 
feather  development  and  the  plumage  at  the  rear  of  the  back  which 
forms  the  cushion,  should  present  a  somewhat  rounded  appearance. 
Observe  the  backs  of  Plymouth  Rocks  and  Wyandottes  as  shown 
in  the  illustrations  in  this  book,  for  these  pictures  present  typical 
birds. 

The  standard  Wyandotte  back  is  shorter  than  the  Plymouth  Rock 
back,  and  the  slightly  convexed  cushion  adds  to  the  apparent  short- 
ness of  the  WTyandotte  back.  In  Rhode  Island  Reds  the  back  is 
long.  The  Plymouth  Rock  is  medium,  the  Wyandotte  moderately 
short,  the  Red  long.  The  back  of  the  Red  should  be  level,  flat  its 
entire  length,  with  only  a  minor  sweep  to  tail  to  overcome  the  crude 
form  of  a  tail  sticking  out  of  the  back  and  the  two  sections  not 
blending  together  with  sonie  harmony. 


72  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

In  addition  to  the  typical  shape  of  the  back,  which  is  largely  de- 
pendent upon  plumage,  the  back  of  the  bird  should  be  felt  in  the 
hands,  its  breadth  across  the  hips  should  be  felt,  and  if  the  back  is 
humped  up,  or  there  is  a  ridge  on  the  back,  or  the  bird  is  hipped, 
the  defects  are  major,  not  minor  ones. 

Tail:  The  tail  gives  balance  to  the  bird.  The  Wyandotte  has 
the  highest  tail,  for  if  the  tail  were  carried  low  it  would  add  apparent 
length  to  the  body  of  the  bird.  The  tail  is  carried  low  in  the  Rhode 
Island  Red  to  carry  out  the  general  impression  of  length.  In  the 
Rock  the  general  carriage  of  the  tail  is  between,  with  the  best 
breeders  aiming  at  a  trifle  lower  carriage  rather  than  higher  carriage, 
for  the  general  setup  of  the  Rock  is  medium  with  a  tendency  to  length. 

The  carriage  of  the  tail  depends  on  the  main  tail  feathers.  The 
sickles,  lesser  sickles,  coverts  and  hangars  lay  over  the  male's  main 
tail  feathers.  These  furnishings  should  be  particularly  abundant  in 
the  Wyandotte  male  and  practically  cover  the  main  tail  feathers 
from  view.  Pinched  or  scantily  furnished  tails,  or  perpendicular 
tails  are  very  objectionable.  Sometimes  pinched  tails  are  spread  by 
the  quill  in  each  main  tail  feather  being  broken  by  bending  between 
the  first  finger  and  the  thumb.  These  breaks  are  easily  felt  by 
running  the  finger  along  the  quill,  and  a  bird  faked  in  this  way 
should  be  disqualified  by  the  judge. 

Some  Wyandotte  breeders  have  been  at  a  loss  to  understand  how 
to  solve  the  tail  question.  Disregarding  the  standard  requirement 
of  the  quills  of  main  tail  feathers  to  be  carried  at  fifty  degrees  above 
the  horizontal,  in  a  fear  of  high  tails,  they  have  bred  low  tails  and 
then  pulled  out  the  main  tail  feathers  several  weeks  before  the  show 
and  exhibited  their  birds  with  two  to  four  weeks'  growth  of  main 
tail.  Whenever  a  judge  sees  a  young  main  tail  covered  with  fully 
grown,  mature  sickles  and  coverts,  he  should  penalize  the  specimen. 
The  way  to  meet  the  tail  issue  in  the  Wyandotte  is  to  breed  the 
fifty  degree  standard  tail,  and  then  birds  whose  feather  growth  is 
fairly  and  properly  matured  may  be  put  down  in  the  best  shows 
and  their  shape  outline  will  meet  the  criticisms  of  competent  judges. 

It  is  desirable  to  pay  some  attention  to  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  feathers  in  the  tail  coverts  of  the  females  and  observe  to  what 
extent  they  lay  up  on  the  main  tail  feathers,  for  in  mating  females 
of  good  development  in  this  respect,  you  get  away  from  a  sharp 
juncture  at  base  of  tail  (where  it  joins  with  the  back)  in  the  male 
offspring.  The  two  top  main  tail  feathers  in  females  are  often 
plucked,  as  they  are  usually  longer  and  more  pointed  than  the  rest 
of  the  feathers  in  this  section;  also  they  are  often  found  to  be 
off-color  to  some  extent  in  the  parti-colored  varieties.  The  plucking 
of  these  two  feathers  results  in  a  smoother  formed  tail  in  a  female 
and  is  considered  legitimate  fitting. 

Neck:     The  neck  joins  the  back  in  the  fore  part,  as  the  tail  joins 


BREED  TYPE  73 

the  back  aft.  The  neck  of  the  male  is  much  heavier  and  fuller  than 
the  neck  of  the  female,  because  of  the  longer  plumage  that  grows 
on  the  male  neck.  A  weak  bird  has  a  long,  thin  neck  with  the 
hackle  feathers  drawn  up  from  the  body,  while  a  masculine  type  of 
male  has  an  abundant  hackle  flowing  well  over  the  shoulders  and 
blending  with  the  body  plumage.  Early  in  the  show  season,  when 
the  hackle  plumage  is  not  all  in,  the  neck  is  found  defective  in  shape, 
but  it  is  a  shape  defect  that  will  right  itself  with  time. 

It  is  particularly  important  that  the  neck  of  the  Wyandotte 
should  be  well  arched  to  carry  out  the  graceful  curves  characteristic 
of  the  breed.  The  neck  of  the  Rock  is  somewhat  longer  and  not 
as  fully  arched,  and  the  neck  of  the  Red  is  similar,  the  distinctive 
character  of  the  Red  being  found  in  other  sections. 

Wings:  The  wings  lie  at  the  side  below  the  back  line  and  the 
bottom  line  of  the  wings  should  be  horizontal,  carrying  out  the  level, 
well-balanced  effect  secured  by  a  horizontal  back.  If  the  wing 
droops  like  a  sword  hanging  from  a  belt,  it  is  defective  in  shape 
and  spoils  the  symmetry  of  the  profile. 

The  wings  of  the  Wyandotte  are  medium  in  size.  The  wings  of 
the  Rhode  Island  Red  are  large  and  long.  The  wings  of  the  Plymouth 
Rock  are  as  long,  because  the  body  of  the  bird  is  somewhat  larger 
than  that  of  a  Red;  and  it  is  desirable  that  the  long  flight  feathers 
of  the  wing  should  be  flat  and  not  curve  inward.  If  the  end  points 
of  the  wing  curve  in  to  the  body,  they  make  the  bird  appear  shorter. 
The  wings  of  the  Wyandotte  should  be  slightly  convexed  at  the 
wing  bows,  but  the  primaries  and  secondaries  should  not  pinch  in 
at  the  wing  points,  for  in  this  breed,  with  its  fuller  development  of 
cushion,  wings  that  pinch  in  spoil  the  sides  of  the  bird.  The  sides 
should  be  as  smooth  as  possible,  the  cushion  and  wing  points  meeting 
without  a  pronounced  line  of  demarkation. 

The  wings  should  be  found  to  be  well  formed  when  the  wing 
is  opened  out;  the  formation  should  be  so  perfect,  and  the  muscles 
sufficiently  strong,  to  fold  the  wing  back  correctly  and  firmly.  When 
there  is  an  open  space  between  the  primaries  and  secondaries  when 
the  wing  is  opened,  the  defect  is  called  a  split  wing.  When  the 
primaries  fold  on  the  outside  of  the  secondaries,  the  defect  is  known 
as  a  twisted  wing,  and  such  a  specimen  is  only  fit  for  market.  When 
a  single  twisted  feather  grows  in  a  wing,  it  is  well  to  pluck  it  and 
let  another  one  grow  to  take  its  place.  When  a  primary  or  secondary 
feather  is  plucked  because  of  off-color,  the  wing  should  be  cut  on 
shape  because  of  missing  feather. 

Breast:  When  a  bird  is  viewed  from  the  front,  there  should  be 
good  distance  between  the  wings.  This  gives  breadth  to  the  breast. 
The  greatest  deficiency  in  breadth  of  breast  is  found  in  Plymouth 
Rocks  that  have  been  bred  for  length  of  back  and  in  Rhode  Island 
Reds  that  have  been  bred  to  an  elongated  ideal  irrespective  of  the 


74 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


thickness  of  the  body.  We  must  not  be  satisfied  merely  with  a  nice 
profile  view.  The  legs  must  be  well  spread.  The  wings  and  legs  of 
birds  do  not  want  to  be  so  long  that  they  are  poorly  fleshed;  or 
do  we  want  birds  that  are  shallow  in  body.  Such  specimens  may 
present  a  satisfactory  side  view,  but  the  moment  a  good  judge 
turns  the  bird  around  and  looks  at  its  front  he  pronounces  it 
"slab-sided."  A  specimen  of  this  kind  is  too  "weedy"  to  be  a  strong, 
virile  useful  bird  and  should  not  be  used.  This  defect  is  most  com- 
mon in  cockerels. 

Again  turning  the  bird  around  to  a  side  view,  we  find  the  depth 
and  roundness  of  breast  of  much  importance  in  the  profile.  The 
breast  of  the  Wyandotte  should  be  deep  and  round;  the  breast  of  the 
Rock,  not  quite  so  deep  but  well  rounded;  the  breast  of  the  Red, 
quite  straight  down  in  front  and  quite  deep.  We  have  a  long  flat 
back  on  the  Red,  and  we  want  a  deep  square  breast,  for  this  body 
when  complete  should  present  something  of  the  appearance  of  a 
brick  set  lengthwise  on  edge.  In  the  Wyandotte,  we  want  the 
breast  to  carry  out  the  full,  curved  lines  that  are  typical  of  the 
breed. 

In  measuring  depth  of  breast,  it  is  well  to  draw  a  line  from  where 
the  hackle  and  back  join  to  the  front  point  of  the  breastbone.  When 

the    line     is     short,    the     breast 
lacks   fullness. 

Body  and  fluff:  Fluff  covers 
the  belly,  or  abdomen,  and, 
being  short,  does  not  exert  much 
influence  on  shape.  The  body 
section  may  be  spoiled  with 
long  plumage.  As  a  section,  it 
has  never  been  considered  of 
major  importance.  This  has 
been  a  grave  error.  From  for- 
ward point  of  breastbone 
around  to  vent,  there  is  an  un- 
derline that  includes  the  whole 
part  of  the  body,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  fine  a  top  line  a  bird 
may  have,  the  under  line  must 
be  equally  good  to  form  a  stand- 
ard body. 

Length  of  keel  or  breast- 
bone influences  the  length  of 
this  underline.  If  the  keel  is 

_  curved     up     at     the     rear,     the 

belly    will    be    small    and    con- 
Buff   Rock  Male   Deficient  in   Breast.  tracted,    and    such    a    bird    wjl 


BREED  TYPE 


75 


usually  not  be  found  in  lay- 
ing condition.  The  correct 
underline  can  best  be  deter- 
mined by  studying  the  pic- 
tures of  good  birds.  In  this 
study  it  will  soon  be  ob- 
served that  more  winners 
fail  in  underline  than  in  any 
other  one  feature,  and  many 
birds  that  look  good  except 
for  some  unnamed  deficiency 
will  be  found  faulty  in  un- 
derline. 

A  crooked  breastbone  is 
sometimes  due  to  poor  con- 
stitutional strength,  or  roost- 
ing on  narrow  roosts.  Grow- 
ing cockerels  of  the  Amer- 
ican breeds  should  roost  on 
2x4's,  broad  side  up. 

Legs:  The  Standard  allots 
three  points  out  of  one  hun- 
dred to  shape  of  legs  and 
toes,  while  the  other  major 
shape  sections  are  alloted 

five  points  each.  There  is  no  practical  value  in  the  Standard 
scale  of  points.  A  bird  stands  on  its  legs;  they  bear  the  body  and 
well  formed  legs  and  toes  are  as  important  as  back,  neck,  breast,  or 
wings,  and  one  of  these  sections  is  no  more  indispensable  than  the 
others.  It  is  absurd  to  apportion  five  points  to  shape  of  back  and 
three  to  shape  of  legs;  or  eight  to  comb  and  three  to  legs. 

Length  of  leg  gives  station  to  the  bird.  If  the  legs  are  too  short 
the  bird  appears  squatty.  If  the  legs  are  weak  at  the  hock  joint, 
they  betray  weak  constitutional  vigor;  the  bird  is  knock-kneed  and 
inactive.  A  knock-kneed  bird  should  not  be  employed  in  breeding. 

The  toes  should  be  straight  and  well  spread.  If  the  two  outer  toes 
are  close  together,  it  shows  that  the  bird  does  not  stand  strong  and 
is  constitutionally  weak.  The  hind  toe  should  be  well  formed.  It 
should  be  joined  to  the  shank,  not  too  high  up,  and  above  all,  pro- 
ject backward  and  not  turn  forward.  This  latter  defect  is  known  as 
"duck  foot,"  and  when  a  bird  carrying  the  defect  is  bred,  the  de- 
formed hind  toe  is  quite  persistent  in  reproducing  itself. 

The  tibia  or  drumstick  should  be  visible  and  not  be  completely 
covered  with  plumage,  except  in  Wyandotte  hens,  where  the  long 
fluff  sometimes  completely  covers  the  tibia  down  to  the  hock  joint. 
You  cannot  secure  a  smooth  underline  when  the  drum  stick  is  lost 


Knock-Kneed    Barred    Rock    Male. 


76  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

in  the  fluff;  however,  this  is  a  minor  defect  found  in  the  majority  of 
heavy  bodied  hens,  yet  it  is  a  point  that  may  decide  prizes  in  very 
strong  competition.  We  would  not  consider  it  a  fault  in  a  Wyandotte 
hen  selected  to  breed  cockerels. 

The  tibia  is  erroneously  termed  the  thigh.  The  fact  is  that  the 
thigh  of  a  chicken  lies  under  the  skin;  it  bends  the  same  as  a  man's 
knee.  The  drumstick  or  tibia  and  shank  bend  backward  at  the  hock, 
for  the  hock  joint  corresponds  with  man's  ankle. 

The  section  "Legs,"  as  measured  by  the  eye,  includes  both  shanks 
and  drumsticks.  Both  bones  should  be  of  medium  length  in  the 
Rock,  short  in  the  Wyandotte  and  rather  longer  than  medium  in  the 
Red.  A  long  legged  Wyandotte  is  utterly  useless.  A  short  legged 
Red  is  of  no  value;  however,  there  is  a  tendency  to  breed  an  extreme 
length.  As  long  as  the  drumstick  is  stout,  length  is  permissible, 
but  when  station  is  secured  at  the  expense  of  meat  on  the  drumstick, 
the  long,  poorly  fleshed  leg  will  be  found  associated  with  a  shallow 
body,  and  such  a  bird  does  not  represent  the  most  useful  and  pro- 
ductive type  of  Rhode  Island  Reds,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  when 
viewed  from  the  side,  this  slab-sided  specimen  may  have  an  attrac- 
tive profile.  The  same  applies  to  Rocks,  but  the  tendency  to  breed 
high  station  is  not  so  strong  among  Plymouth  Rock  breeders. 

A  fine  boned  shank  usually  indicates  a  small,  fine  boned  body.  A 
coarse  boned  shank  is  not  desirable.  Smooth,  nicely  laid  on  scales 
on  the  shanks  and  toes  are  very  desirable.  Creases  or  grooves  down 
the  shanks  are  objectionable. 

Scaly  legs,  easily  recognized  by  the  enlarged  rough  appearance 
of  the  shanks  and  toes,  are  caused  by  minute  mites,  which  burrow 
in  prodigious  numbers  beneath  the  scales,  forming  a  yellowish, 
powdery  substance  which  raises  up  the  scales  and  makes  the  shanks 
rough  and  heavy  appearing.  Scaly  legs  is  a  diseased  condition,  and 
it  is  optional  with  the  judge  whether  he  shall  cut  legs  so  affected 
for  shape  and  write  the  word  "condition"  in  the  remark  column,  or 
cut  the  bird  for  condition  and  write  the  word  "shank"  in  the  column 
for  remarks.  It  might  be  clearer  to  write  in  the  remark  column 
on  the  score  card  the  words  "scaly  legs"  to  explain  the  cut.  Good 
breeders  never  exhibit  a  scaly  leg  bird;  they  scarcely  ever  have  one. 
for  they  never  keep  one  around,  never  breed  one  and,  most  of  all, 
never  set  a  female  so  affected. 

Head:  Having  considered  the  body  and  the  legs  which  bear  and 
move  the  body,  we  shall  now  turn  to  the  head,  the  seat  of  the  senses 
which  direct  the  body.  A  good  head  is  the  crown  of  the  whole 
bird,  and  a  poor  head  irreparably  stamps  the  bird  as  poor,  regardless 
of  how  good  it  may  be  in  any  other  section,  or  in  a  combination 
of  all  other  sections. 

The  skull  contains  the  brain  which  dominates  the  activity  of  the 
bird,  If  the  skull  is  narrow,  not  wide  across,  it  indicates  fine  bone 


BREED  TYPE  77 

throughout  the  body.  If  the  head  is  rather  long,  there  is  every  indi- 
cation of  weakness;  and  when  the  skull,  lacking  breadth,  is  long,  the 
bird  is  spoken  of  as  "crow  headed"  or  "snake  headed."  Such  a  speci- 
men should  be  classed  as  useless  for  stock  purposes. 

The  eye  gives  expression  to  the  intellect.  If  the  bird  is  quick 
and  active,  it  has  a  bright  eye,  "as  bright  as  a  shoe  button."  Droop- 
ing eyelids  bespeak  inactivity.  The  eye  should  be  big  and  clear,  so 
that  the  bird  may  see  everything  that  there  is  to  eat  and  anything 
that  is  going  on.  Too  many  Rhode  Island  Red  females  have  over- 
hanging eyelids.  Such  birds  are  often  small,  weak  specimens  and 
even  though  they  may  occasionally  win  high  prizes,  the  breeder 
cannot  depend  on  these  drooping-eyelid  pullets  to  breed  the  fine,  big 
richly  furnished  cockerels  that  win  the  premier  honors  in  the  cockerel 
class. 

The  face  is  the  bare  skin  on  the  head  over  and  below  the  eyes. 
A  chicken  has  a  face,  and  a  big  open  faced  bird  is  considered  stronger 
than  a  small  faced  one.  In  a  male,  a  big  face  is  an  indication  of 
masculinity.  All  of  E.  B.  Thompson's  Barred  Rock  males  have  big 
faces,  and  it  is  a  point  that  this  breeder  has  not  overlooked. 

The  skin  on  the  face,  particularly  of  females,  should  be  smooth 
and  of  fine  texture.  Wrinkled  faces  reflect  the  Malay  and  Aseel  blood 
that  runs  in  the  blood  of  some  varieties,  particularly  Reds,  and  these 
wrinkled 'faced  hens  can  be  depended  upon  to  be  big,  heavy  boned, 
heavy  muscled  specimens,  but  they  are  shy  on  egg  yield.  A  truly 
fine  pullet  has  a  smooth  face. 

The  ear  lobe  is  the  fold  of  bare  skin  just  below  the  ear  socket. 
A  fine  texture  skin  on  face  and  a  large  face  usually  are  associated 
with  well  developed  ear  lobes.  A  very  long  or  very  short  lobe 
spoils  the  symmetry  of  the  face  in  the  American  breeds. 

The  wattles  are  the  pendant  fleshy  growths  that  hang  below  the 
face  and  beak.  They  should  not  be  coarse  in  texture  or  so  long  a^ 
to  hang  in  wrinkles,  but  should  be  nicely  rounded,  of  equal  length 
and  smooth  texture.  Folds  are  minor  faults.  Very  short  wattles, 
like  very  short  lobes,  fail  to  give  the  desired  strength  to  the  face. 

The  beak,  including  an  upper  and  lower  mandible,  is  the  horny 
projecting  mouth  part.  A  chicken  has  no  hands  and  uses  its  beak 
to  pick  and  break  up  food.  It  is  important  that  the  beak  should 
be  well  formed,  straight  out,  and  the  upper  bill  be  properly  curved. 
A  crooked  beak  should  disqualify;  in  fact,  such  a  specimen  is  so 
deprived  of  food  that  its  growth  is  slower  than  other  chicks  in  the 
flock,  its  development  is  soon  arrested  and  it  becomes  the  easy  prey 
of  disease.  A  stout  regularly  curved  beak  is  always  desirable  and 
important. 

A  good  way  to  measure  the  length  of  the  head  is  to  gauge  the 
distance  from  the  center  of  the  eye  to  the  tip  end  of  the  beak.  A 
long  headed  bird  may  have  a  long  back,  but  a  length  of  body  is  of 


78  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

no  value  when  secured  at  an  unmistakable  loss  of  vitality,  as  is 
made  apparent  by  a  long  narrow  head.  Plymouth  Rock  males  par- 
ticularly should  be  observed  in  respect  to  this  point,  and  regardless 
of  how  beautifully  long  they  may  be,  the  breeder  should  remember 
that  a  weak  head  makes  a  weak  bird.  This  may  not  be  a  deciding 
point  on  the  part  of  the  officiating  judge  but  the  breeder  should 
always  select  birds  with  a  view  to  the  permanence  of  his  strain; 
and  a  judge  who  rises  to  be  a  master  of  his  profession  should  make 
.his  selections  with  a  view  to  the  permanence  of  the  breed.  Weak- 
ness means  poor  hatching  qualities  in  the  eggs,  poor  growth  in  the 
chickens,  disappointed  beginners  and  abandoned  breeds. 

The  comb  is  the  appendage  of  the  head  which  is  usually  first 
observed  by  beginners.  All  Plymouth  Rocks  and  half  the  Rhode 
Island  Reds  have  single  combs,  and  all  Wyandottes  and  the  other 
half  of  the  Reds  have  rose  combs.  The  comb  is  a  sort  of  barometer. 
When  the  bird  is  not  in  good  condition,  or  is  molting,  the  comb  is 
small.  It  may  be  tinged  with  blue  when  the  bird's  liver  is  inactive. 
When  the  specimen  is  healthy,  vigorous  and  productive,  the  blood 
pressure  increases  the  size  and  bright  red  color  of  the  comb.  There 
should  be  from  four  to  six  points  on  a  single  combed  specimen  of 
these  breeds,  the  center  point  on  a  strong  headed  bird  being  above  the 
eye.  This  puts  more  of  the  comb  in  front  than  many  breeders  fancy, 
but  if  they  will  study  the  most  vigorous  males,  they  will  find  that 
the  comb  is  not  cut  away  in  front,  but  is  well  built  in  front.  The 
comb  should  be  free  from  wrinkles,  twists,  hollows  or  other  un- 
sightly formations.  While  the  standard  calls  for  five  points,  one 
point  more  or  less  is  not  considered  a  factor  by  competent  breeders; 
the  principal  consideration  being  good  balance,  sound  formation 
and  smooth  texture. 

In  rose  comb  varieties  the  comb  should  fit  the  head  closely  and  be 
firm  to  the  head;  covered  with  small  pebbling  and  terminate  in  a 
spike  that  follows  the  shape  of  the  head. 


CHAPTER  V. 
COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OF  PLUMAGE. 

The  beauty  of  plumage — Utility  of  plumage — Structure  of  the  feather 

— Texture    of    the    plumage — Colors    found    in    the    plumage — Color 

patterns — Breeding — Color    and    markings — Growth    of    plumage. 

In  addition  to  giving  shape  and  outline  to  the  bird  and  affording 
protection  to  its  body,  the  plumage  may  be  bred  to  carry  beautiful 
color  patterns.  The  relation  of  plumage  to  typical  shape  was  dis- 
cussed in  the  preceding  chapter,  and  the  markings,  color  and  structure 
of  the  feathers  will  be  taken  up  in  this  chapter. 

The  beauty  of  plumage.  Poultry  breeders  are  occasionally  criti- 
cized for  laying  too  much  stress  upon  feather.  The  reply  may  be 
made  that  the  breeders  of  no  other  form  of  animal  life  have  had 
either  the  opportunity  or  the  temptation  to  develop  color  schemes 
such  as  are  found  in  domestic  fowls.  Feathers  are  a  unique  char- 
acteristic of  birds,  distinguishing  them  from  other  animals.  With 
plumage,  there  is  the  possiblity  of  producing  not  merely  a  bay  or 
black  or  belted  specimen,  but  there  is  the  opportunity  to  produce  a 
complete  color  design  on  the  individual  feather. 

There  are  always  some  to  ask:  "Why  put  emphasis  on  beauty 
in  a  utility  race  and  demand  distinctiveness  of  barring  in  a  Barred 
Plymouth  Rock  and  clear,  open  centers  in  a  Silver  Wyandotte;  will 
not  the  cuckoo  colored  Rock  grow  as  well,  or  will  not  the  mossy 
Silver  \Vyandotte  be  as  good  a  layer?" 

If  you  could  present  a  pen  of  sharply-barred  Barred  Rocks  or 
open-laced  Silver  Wyandottes  to  the  most  shiftless  and  careless 
farmer  in  your  township,  he  would  probably  get  more  eggs  and  raise 
more  chickens  than  he  ever  did  before  because  he  would  take  a  new 
interest  in  the  fowls,  and,  taking  pride  in  them,  would  give  them 
more  thoughtful  care  and  better  attention  than  had  previously  been 
given  by  him  to  his  poultry. 

Why  did  nature  make  the  robin  red  breasted?  Would  it  not  seek 
out  and  eat  caterpillars,  cut  worms,  white  grubs  and  earth  worms 
just  as  well  if  it  were  no  more  beautifully  colored  than  a  common 
sparrow?  Would  not  the  wood  thrush  continue  to  eat  ground-infest- 
ing insects  and  larvae,  or  the  woodpecker  spend  its  time  seeking 
larvae  hidden  in  the  crevices  of  posts  and  under  the  bark  of  trees,  if 
they  were  the  plainest  of  birds?  Beauty  does  not  prevent  these  birds 
from  fighting  insects  and  eating  weed  seeds  and  thus  working 
with  and  for  mankind.  Does  their  beauty  need  defense?  "Tf  eyes 
were  made  for  seeing,  then  beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being." 


80  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

Not  exclusively  ornamental.  The  American  breeds  are  not  orna- 
menal  to  the  same  extent  as  the  White  Crested  Black  Polish,  whose 
lustrous-black  body  plumage  is  crowned  by  a  large,  open,  white, 
crysanthemum-like  crest.  The  general  make-up  of  the  American 
breeds  is  in  keeping  with  their  employment  with  enough  design  and 
color  in  their  attire  to  lift  them  above  the  commonplace. 

The  important  thing  is  for  breeders  to  so  thoroughly  understand 
the  inheritance  of  color-types,  to  so  completely  master  the  subject, 
that  standards  will  be  written  which  call  for  details  that  are  con- 
sisent  with  the  breeding  tendencies  of  varieties.  Then  we  shall  see 
parti-colored  fowls  rivaling  the  self-colored  varieties  in  popularity 
because  they  are  equally  dependable  breeders  of  their  own  likeness. 

At  the  Sixth  National  Egg  Laying  Contest  held  at  Mountain 
Grove,  Mo.,  the  following  records  for  egg  production  were  made  by 
the  different  groups  of  hens: 

All  hens  of  all  breeds  in  the  contest  laid  an  average  of  175.2  eggs 
each  for  the  year.  All  parti-colored  varieties  of  the  American  breeds 
laid  an  average  of  176.2  eggs  per  hen.  All  white  varieties  of  the 
American  breeds  averaged  192.1  eggs  per  bird  for  the  year. 

Records  of  the  First  National  Egg  Laying  Contest  held  at  Moun- 
tain Grove,  Mo.,  show  that  the  parti-colored  fowls  of  the  American 
breeds  averaged  136  eggs  each  and  the  white  varieties  of  these  breeds 
averaged  121.5  eggs  per  hen  for  the  year.  Compared  to  the  records 
of  the  sixth  contest,  we  find  that  the  intervening  years  has  seen  both 
groups  of  fowls  advance,  but  the  advantage  has  laid  with  the  self- 
colored  varieties.  It  is  particularly  important,  therefore,  for  breeders, 
judges  and  Standardmakers  to  always  bear  in  mind  that  while  it  is 
just  as  natural  for  a  penciled  fowl  to  be  penciled  or  a  laced  fowl  to 
be  laced  as  it  is  for  a  fowl  to  be  white  or  black,  the  color  require- 
ments as  set  forth  in  the  Standard  text  and  aimed  for  in  the  breeding 
yard  or  show  room,  must  not  be  in  conflict  with  the  nature  of  pen- 
ciling or  lacing,  for  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  artificial  require- 
ments adds  greatly  to  the  complexity  of  the  breeder's  matings.  Work- 
ing under  a  natural  standard,  the  breeder  can  produce  good  color 
coupled  with  good  utility. 

The  fancier  as  a  student.  The  constructive  type  of  breeder  devel- 
oped the  breeds  with  their  size,  type  and  breed  characters,  and  he 
also  established  the  color.  We  are  apt  to  think  of  the  fancier  as 
given  to  breeding  color  alone  and  devoting  his  time  to  fine  points — 
but  the  bird  of  good  substance  is  also  of  his  production. 

It  is  true  that  the  fancier  will  spend  hours  in  the  breeding  yard 
sudying  a  minor  detail  of  color.  He  may  take  a  hackle  feather  from 
a  Rhode  Island  Red  and  observe  an  orange  red  ground  color  and 
black  stripe  extending  through  it,  and  ask  himself  whether  he  can 
produce  a  rich,  red  ground  color  by  tolerating  this  black  stripe,  or 
whether  in  reality  the  stripe  is  a  factor  that  belongs  to  another  color 
type  and  is  not  an  excess  of  color  that  can  diffuse  itself  into  a  darker 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURES  OF  PLUMAGE  81 

ground  color  in  the  neck  plumage  of  the  next  generation.  In  the 
latter  case,  to  breed  striping  would  not  result  in  the  desired  darker 
hackles  but  in  the  perpetuation  of  striped  hackles  which  are,  of  course, 
objectionable  in  a  Rhode  Island  Red. 

The  breeder  must  then  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  can  only 
depend  upon  producing  a  darker  ground  color  by  eliminating  the 
striped  bird  from  the  breeding  pen  and  using  birds  for  breeders  that 
are  strongly  pigmented  with  red  with  perhaps  a  bar  of  slate  in  the 
undercolor  to  indicate  strength  of  color. 

It  is  not  an  idle  problem.  The  public  will  not  accept  the  Rhode 
Island  Red  if  it  is  not  red;  and  if  it  does  accept  an  orange  hackled 
female,  which  breeds  an  orange  topped  male  who  in  turn  throws  a 
number  of  very  light,  whitish  pullets,  it  is  important  that  there 
should  be  some  one  who  has  gained  an  understanding  of  how  to 
develop  strength  of  color  and  maintain  the  breed  to  a  standard  of 
excellence. 

Motley  plumage  makes  no  appeal  to  the  eye  and  cannot  persuade 
a  man  to  invest  in  better  poultry.  The  color  of  the  plumage  is  a 
good  indication  of  the  purity  of  breeding  and  its  condition  is  a  good 
index  to  the  health  and  condition  of  the  bird. 

Development  of  color  depends  not  only  upon  breeding  but  also 
upon  proper  conditions  for  growth.  Lice,  sickness,  arrested  devel- 
opment, all  show  in  the  feather.  A  Black  Wyandotte  that  has  a 
plumage  full  of  purple  bars  instead  of  a  bright,  beetle  green  sheen, 
may  have  been  lousy  as  it  grew;  a  Buff  Rock  that  has  some  white 
in  wing  and  tail  may  have  crowded  and  piled  up  as  a  chick;  a  Rhode 
Island  Red  cockerel  that  along  in  September  has  wings  so  full  of 
white  that  the  off-color  shows  from  a  distance,  may  have  been  chilled 
as  a  chick,  or.  grown  in  a  barren  contaminated  chicken  yard, 
or  fed  only  hard  grain  and  under-nourished  while  growing.  There 
may  be  three  red  cockerels  that  show  white  in  wings  in  the  same 
brood,  but  if  you  go  to  the  farm  of  the  man  who  sold  the  sitting 
of  eggs  from  which  these  three  off-colored  chicks  were  hatched,  you 
may  not  find  three  cockerels  like  them  in  his  three  hundred.  It  is  not 
that  he  sold  different  eggs  than  he  set.  The  grower  is  at  fault. 

Care  cannot  transform  a  poorly  bred  chick  into  a  prize  winner  but 
the  lack  of  care  will  ruin  the  finest  chick  ever  bred.  The  successful 
breeder  realizes  how  dependent  are  color  and  shape  upon  normal 
feather  development,  and  he  carefully  handles  his  growing  and  molt- 
ing birds,  that  they  may  possess  a  coat  of  plumage  that  represents 
in  full  development  all  the  good  quality  which  he  has  bred  into 
his  line. 

Utility  of  the  plumage.  Plumage  has  a  very  practical  aspect.  It 
keeps  the  body  warm  and  dry.  Nature  has  not  given  better  protec- 
tion to  any  animal  than  she  has  given  to  birds  in  the  form  of  plumage. 

These  light  feathers  which  a  chicken  carries  on  its  body  are  an 
effective  insulator  of  body  temperature.  One  of  the  difficulties  of 


82  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

the  incubator  manufacturers  has  been  to  build  a  box  that  would  keep 
out  cold  as  effectively  as  does  the  plumage  of  a  hen  setting  on  eggs. 
They  have  built  double  walls  and  padded  them  in  between. 

The  average  man  who  builds  a  poultry  house  that  his  hens  may 
have  a  decent  place  in  which  to  live,  is  usually  tempted  to  build  the 
house  tight  that  the  hens  may  be  warm.  He  fails  to  learn  the  lesson 
from  the  bird  which  he  sees  sitting  on  the  twig  of  a  tree,  singing  and 
happy,  as  he  looks  out  of  the  house  on  Christmas  morning  across 
two  feet  of  snow.  That  little  bird  has  been  out  all  night  and  the 
wind  has  blown  and  it  has  been  cold,  but  it  did  not  freeze  or  die, 
for  is  it  not  there  on  the  twig,  chirp  and  happy,  singing  its  Christmas 
carol? 

Fowls,  like  birds,  breathe  all  the  way  through  their  lungs  into 
four  pairs  of  air  sacs  (which  are  the  bellows-like  portion  of  their 
respiratory  system)  affording  the  very  best  possible  opportunity  for 
the  oxygen  of  fresh  air  to  combine  with  the  blood  and  be  carried 
to  all  parts  of  the  body.  One  thousand  pounds  of  chickens  breathe 
from  2  to  2^4  times  as  much  air  as  the  same  weight  of  cattle,  horses 
or  men,  according  to  F.  H.  King.  Birds  have  a  higher  temperature. 
Therefore,  do  not  shut  the  poultry  up  in  a  close  hen  house;  consider 
the  nature  of  the  bird  and  its  coat  of  plumage.  This  overcoat  is  of 
nature's  best  make,  effective  as  an  insulator  of  body  temperature,  a 
wonderfully  woven  fabric  of  beautiful  color.  Let  us  learn  more 
about  it. 

The  secondary  feather.  Did  you  ever  examine  a  feather  on  the 
under  side?  There  is  a  little  secondary  feather  at  the  base,  called 
the  after-shaft.  The  great  feathers  of  the  wing  and  tail  are  an  excep- 
tion. This  after-shaft  of  the  body  plumage  serves  as  "the  under- 
clothes." Dr.  P.  T.  Woods  has  suggested  that  when  hens  are  housed 
in  open  front  poultry  houses  the  after-shaft  assumes  larger  propor- 
tions than  where  the  birds  are  cooped  in  tight  quarters. 

The  downy  part  of  the  feather  helps  to  keep  the  bird  warm,  the 
soft  fluff  holding  more  air  than  were  the  feather  material  closely 
knit  into  a  smooth  surface  all  the  way  down  to  the  skin.  The  smooth 
surface,  however,  is  better  to  shed  rain  and  makes  the  better  outer 
protection;  it  also  permits  birds  in  flight  to  pass  through  the  air 
with  the  least  resistance. 

It  is  on  the  surface  that  the  important  color  pattern  is  usually 
exhibited.  In  a  penciled  or  laced  feather,  the  design  is  entirely  on 
the  web  or  smooth  surface  of  the  feather.  A  Barred  Rock,  however, 
is  an  exception,  for  a  good  one  is  barred  the  entire  length  of  the 
feather. 

Structure  of  the  feather.  Let  us  examine  the  feather  from  the 
back  of  a  hen.  The  feather  proper  may  be  divided  into  three  parts: 
the  quill  or  shaft;  the  web  or  smooth  part  which  forms  the  surface 
of  the  plumage;  and  the  fluff  or  downy  part  at  the  base. 

The  shaft  or  quill  is  the  axis  from  which  the  rest  of  the  feather 


mmm^— 

M0£ffO&% 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OF  PLUMAGE      83 

extends.  The  lower  portion  of  the  quill  is  fastened  in  the  skin.  It 
is  like  the  root  of  a  hair,  serving  as  an  anchor,  holding  the  feather 
in  its  place.  But  the  feather  itself  is  unlike  a  hair  which  is  constantly 
growing,  for  once  the  feather  is  grown,  the  pulp  in  the  quill  and 
shaft  becomes  pith,  and  no  further  nourishment  is  extended  by  the 
body.  If  you  cut  the  quill  with  your  pen  knife,  you  find  a  series  of 
hollow,  oblong  cells  fitting  into 
one  another.  These  cells  are 
now  shriveled,  but  during 
growth  they  contained  the  nut- 
rient matter  from  which  the 
feather  was  built  up. 

The  web  presents  the  appear- 
ance of  a  smooth  surface,  groov- 
ed with  a  number  of  fine  parallel 
lines.  If  we  place  this  web 
under  a  lens  that  raises  its  size  Feather  From  Back  Section  of  Hen 
twenty  times,  we  behold  a  woven 

fabric!     We  find  that  the  grooved  appearances   are  caused  by  inter- 
spaces between  the  ribs  or  barbs  which  extend  out  from  the  shaft. 

Again  we  look  at  the  feather  under  the  microscope  and  we  see 
these  interspaces  are  filled  with  the  intercrossing  of  fine  hair-like 
barbules.  We  study  longer  and  find  the  barbules  are  all  hooked 
together.  Split  the  web;  it  doesn't  give  apart  readily  at  first,  but  a 
little  pressure  and  the  booklets  give;  gently  stroke  it  back  into  place 
and  the  booklets  on  the  barbules  go  into  place  and  hold  the  barbs 
together. 

About  all  we  can  see  unaided  by  the  microscope  are  the  barbs; 
the  rest  of  the  links  are  finer  than  the  senses  of  either  sight  or  touch. 
In  fact,  the  network  is  fitted  together  so  closely  and  so  perfectly  that 
air  cannot  force  its  way  through  the  feather. 

The  wonder  of  nature  does  not  stop  here.  She  deposits  color  pig- 
ment in  these  numberless  parts  of  the  feather  with  a  definite  regu- 
larity and  percision  that  beggars  description.  We  see  the  barring  of 
white  and  dark,  sharply  defined,  or  a  white  feather  with  a  black  band 
around  its  outer  border,  or  a  red  feather  marked  with  three  distinct, 
concentric  lines  of  black,  one  hand  within  another.  If  we  take  the 
barred  feather,  we  find  one  barb  has  four  visible  bars  of  dark  color 
and  ends  with  dark,  another  has  four  bars  of  dark  but  they  are 
not  located  the  same,  so  the  barb  ends  with  white;  and  it  is  the  exact 
position  of  one  barb  to  another  that  makes  the  dark  bar  extend 
straight  across  the  feather.  These  lines  of  barring  that  we  admire 
are  therefore  "not  continuous,  not  organically  complete,  but  formed 
by  the  exact  relation,  one  to  another,  of  a  series  of  minute  spots  of 
pigment,  each  lodged  in  a  separate  filament,  so  that  the  several  spots 
in  each  filament,  when  ranged  side  by  side,  form  the  several  series 
of  lines  or  bars." 


84  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

Male  plumage.  If  we  take  a  saddle  feather  which  grows  from 
the  hip  of  a  cock  we  find  that  there  is  a  web  in  the  center  of  it, 
and  the  outer  portion  is  composed  of  barbs  not  hooked  together. 
The  hooklets  on  the  barbs  are  absent  and  the  barbules  are  reduced 
and  the  bare  barbs  extend.  If  this  feather  is  from  a  Partridge  Wyan- 
dotte,  the  black  stripe  is  confined  to  the  webbed  portion. 

If  the  feather  is  from  a  Barred  Rock,  we  find  the  barring  goes 
straight  across  the  web  and  then  becomes  irregular.  This  may  be 
due  to  the  way  the  feather  grows.  Probably  there  is  a  mechanical 
process  which  runs  to  putting  a  straight  bar  across  the  feather,  but 
due  to  the  structure  of  the  feather,  there  may  be  a  difference  in  the 
growth  of  the  individual  barbs  at  different  times,  based  on  a  differ- 
ence in  nutritional  factors,  and  the  feather  grows  unevenly.  This 
is  a  matter  of  concern.  Straight  barring  is  one  of  the  prime  requisites 


Long  Male  Saddle  Feather,  Showing  Web  in   Center. 

of  a  good  Barred  Rock.  Clear  cut  barring,  that  is,  the  white  stopping 
short  and  the  black  beginning  sharply,  affording  a  strength  of  color 
that  comes  from  contrast,  is  not  more  important  than  straight-across- 
the-feather  barring,  for  the  ringy  effect  is  due  to  straight  barring, 
and  if  the  sharp  bars  are  to  appear  in  bands  around  the  bird,  they 
must  be  straight.  It  is  not  enough  to  breed  a  bird  that  displays  its 
feather  pattern  when  you  handle  it;  a  chicken  must  show  its  quality 
when  it  is  in  its  environment  on  the  green  of  the  farm.  For  a  view 
of  barring  as  it  may  appear  to  advantage  in  the  poultry  yard,  see 
page  29. 

One  of  the  features  of  masculinity  is  the  character  of  plumage 
common  to  the  male  sex.  The  male  has  the  greater  wealth  of 
plumage.  He  carries  long,  pointed  feathers  on  his  neck  and  back, 
and  they  have  a  firm  web  only  in  the  middle  portion;  the  outer  half 


COLOR  AND   STRUCTURE  OF  PLUMAGE  85 

of  the  barbs,  not  being  hooked  together,  present  a  frayed  appearance. 
This  is  called  the  top  plumage  and  since  it  covers  so  large  an  area 
and  is  so  showy  in  the  male,  it  is  of  capital  importance. 

The  neck  is  the  only  section  of  the  female  which  has  plumage  of 
similar  structure,  and  in  this  section  the  female  feather  is  rounder  and 
the  web  is  relatively  broader  than  the  neck  plumage  of  the  male. 
However,  in  picking  a  female  to  produce  the  desired  top  color  of 
neck  and  back  in  her  male  offspring,  look  carefully  to  the  neck  color 
that  the  females  possess.  A  strong  colored  Rhode  Island  Red  cock- 
erel cannot  be  expected  from  a  dam  whose  hackle  runs  light  in  color. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  breast  of  the  male  is  the  one  principal 
section  in  which  the  structure  of  the  feathers  is  the  same  as  that 
found  in  the  body  plumage  of  the  females.  It  has  become  common 
practice  in  at  least  one  color,  the  buff  varieties,  to  match  the  breast 
of  the  male  for  the  desired  color  in  pullets.  The  breast  of  the  male 
is  also  a  major  consideration  in  mating  to  produce  well  barred,  laced 
and  penciled  females. 

Thus  the  structure  of  the  feathers  indicates  that  the  breast  of  the 
male,  and  the  neck  of  the  female,  are  determining  factors  in  breed- 
ing; the  male's  breast  for  body  color  in  pullets;  the  female's  head  and 
neck  for  top  color  in  cockerels. 

Texture  of  the  plumage.  The  plumage  of  some  males,  particularly 
the  iiat  of  the  back  and  wing  bows  of  Rhode  Island  Red  males,  may 
be  found  to  be  so  frayed  on  the  outer  edges  that  the  feathers  curl. 
Such  birds  have  breast  plumage  that  is  not  hard-surfaced  and  per- 
fectly webbed  to  the  outer  edge.  The  females  of  such  a  line  will 
have  back  plumage  that  likewise  is  frizzled  or  frayed.  A  deeper  tone 
of  red  is  associated  with  this  rough  plumage.  The  mahogany  hued 
birds  invariably  have  this  character  of  plumage.  With  it  is  usually 
found  the  deepest  red  under  color.  The  hard-surfaced  females  are 
apt  to  have  a  lighter  tone  to  the  under  color.  However,  the  life  and 
finish  of  the  brilliant  red  plumage  is  always  associated  with  the  harder 
feather. 

Firm  webbing  to  the  feather,  or  hard  feather,  is  much  desired 
by  breeders  of  the  white  varieties  for  it  is  the  only  type  that  will 
wash  and  web  out  to  good  advantage.  Some  buff  breeders  have 
lately  been  washing  their  females  and  it  is  amusing  to  see  the  hens 
that  never  did  possess  the  proper  character  of  feather  at  end  of  back 
and  over  base  of  tail,  come  into  the  show  room  the  worse  for  having 
been  soaped  and  drenched. 

This  matter  of  texture  of  feather  is  as  important  as  the  texture 
of  any  woven  fabric.  If  you  go  into  a  store  to  buy  a  rug  or  a  shirt 
you  are  not  only  observant  of  the  size,  the  shape,  the  pattern  and 
the  colors  in  that  pattern,  but  also  of  the  weave  and  the  texture. 
Observant  poultrymen  and  judges  likewise  take  notice  of  the  quality 
of  feather.  It  is  getting  harder  year  by  year  for  the  rough  plumaged 
bird  to  win  at  such  shows  as  Chicago,  New  York  and  Boston. 


86  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

Size  of  feathers.  The  size  of  the  individual  feather  has  much  to  do 
with  the  effect  of  the  color-type  when  viewed  at  a  distance.  A  Silver 
Wyandotte  hen,  for  instance,  may  have  excellent  lacing,  clear  white 
centers,  and  sound  black  edging,  but  the  individual  feathers  may  be 
so  small  that  the  lacing  is  relatively  small,  and  the  white  centers 
are  largely  overlapped  by  other  feathers;  whereas  if  the  individual 
feathers  are  comparatively  large,  the  open  centers  are  correspondingly 
large,  the  overlapping  is  not  so  heavy  and  the  whole  color  scheme 
stands  out  and  shows  off. 

Colors  found  in  the  plumage.  It  is  generally  believed  that  all  of 
the  colors  in  chickens  are  derived  from  the  black  and  red  of  the 
jungle  fowl.  It  would  appear  true  that  the  only  primary  colors 
which  poultrymen  have  had  to  work  with  have  been  black  and  red; 
there  is  no  blue  in  chickens  and  no  green.  I  once  stood  in  Kensing- 
ton Gardens  in  London  and  saw  a  peacock  with  his  lustrous,  deep 
blue  breast  and  at  once  anticipated  what  a  beautiful  fowl  the  Blue 
Wyandotte  might  be  bred  to  be,  but  that  was  before  I  had  fully 
grasped  the  fact  that  blue  in  the  Wyandotte  is  not  due  to  blue  pig- 
ment. W.  A.  Lippincott  has  pointed  out  that  blue  in  chickens  is  due 
to  the  arrangement  of  the  pigment  granules  in  the  feather  structure, 
for  the  pigment  itself  is  black,  and  the  fact  that  the  granules  are 
round,  instead  of  rod  shaped  as  in  black  colored  fowls,  leaves  a  pig- 
mentless  space  around  the  border  of  each  cell,  giving  a  bluish-gray 
cast.  In  other  words  the  blue  chicken  is  a  minute  black  and  white 
mosaic. 

As  blue  in  chickens  is  a  modified  black,  buff  is  a  modified  red. 
It  is  a  red  toned  with  white.  I  have  seen  a  Rhode  Island  Red  male 
crossed  on  White  Orpington  females  and  there  were  thus  produced 
acceptable  buff  pullets  in  all  save  tail  where  black  dominated. 

Red  is  not  found  alone  but  always  in  combination  with  black  as 
in  the  Rhode  Island  Red  which  has  a  black  tail,  black  in  wing1 
flights  and  not  uncommonly  in  hackle  and  under  plumage. 

Black  is  found  alone,  a  melanic  condition.  It  is,  however,  as 
remarkable  that  it  should  be  found  pure  as  that  pure  white  spots 
should  appear  in  chickens.  C.  B.  Davenport  found  that  if  you  intro- 
duce black-red  of  the  jungle  fowl  as  carried  by  the  black-red  game, 
into  the  Black  Cochin,  the  hybrids  are  of  a  "prevailing  black  but 
about  half  of  them  show  red  lacing  on  the  hackle  feathers  or  a  red 
peppering  in  those  places  where  red  is  displayed  by  the  game." 
Davenport  then  states:  "Black  is  dominant  over  red  but  imper- 
fectly so." 

White  plumage.  White  generally  is  considered  by  poultrymen  as 
an  absence  of  color.  However,  recent  studies  have  shown  that  there 
is  more  than  one  kind  of  white  in  chickens,  at  least  from  a  hereditary 
standpoint.. 

The  white  of  White  Plymouth  Rocks  and  White  Wyandottes  is 
recessive.  When  used  in  crossbreeding  with  colored  fowls  it  does 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OF  PLUMAGE  87 

not  dominate,  but  has  color  imposed  on  it.  There  is  another  kind 
of  white  in  chickens,  the  white  of  the  White  Leghorn.  It  is  a  domi- 
nant white,  and  when  this  variety  is  crossed  with  colored  chickens 
the  progeny  are  white,  or  nearly  so. 

There  is  some  factor  in  the  White  Leghorn  which  prevents  the 
formation  of  color.  There  is  good  evidence  to  show  that  there  is  a 
tendency  to  black  in  the  White  Leghorn,  but  some  factor  in  the 
inheritance  of  this  variety  holds  the  color  in  check  or  in  some  manner 
neutralizes  it.  This  is  called  a  restraining  or  prohibiting  factor.  The 
result  is  that  when  the  White  Leghorn,  carrying  this  pigment  inhib- 
itor, is  crossed  on  colored  fowls,  the  color  is  held  in  check  and  the 
chicks  produced  from  the  cross  are  practically  white. 

The  white  of  the  White  Rock  and  White  Wyandotte,  however,  is 
due  to  the  dropping  out  of  that  hereditary  factor  which  is  necessary 
for  the  development  of  color.  In  these  two  varieties  there  is  an 
absence  of  color,  not  only  in  the  plumage,  but  in  the  germ  cells. 
These  varieties  are  not  useful  for  crossing,  because  their  white  will 
not  predominate  in  the  offspring.  "In  my  own  breeding  work,"  writes 
Professor  Lippincott,  "I  have  found  that  all  White  Plymouth  Rocks 
carry  a  pattern  for  barring.  In  crossing  them  with  a  pigmented  bird, 
such  as  the  Black  Langshan  or  the  Black  Andalusian,  one  gets  only 
barred  offspring  if  the  sire  is  a  White  Plymouth  Rock,  while  all  the 
males  are  barred  and  the  female  non-barred  if  the  mother  is  the 
White  Plymouth  Rock  and  the  sire  is  the  pigmented  bird."  The 
first  White  Rocks  appeared  as  sports  of  the  original  Barred  Rock,  and 
White  Wyandottes  first  came  as  sports  of  Silver  Wyandottes.  While 
these  early  sports  may  be  assumed  to  have  carried  the  pattern  for 
barring  and  lacing,  the  factor  for  the  development  of  color  was 
missing  and  therefore  they  were  white.  These  two  varieties,  White 
Rocks  and  White  Wyandottes,  are  not  useful  for  crossbreeding  because 
their  white  will  not  predominate  in  the  offspring  as  will  the  white  of 
the  Leghorn,  the  barring  of  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock,  or  the  red 
of  the  Rhode  Island  Red.  How  the  inhibiting  factor  for  color  arose 
in  the  White  Leghorn,  no  one  knows.  We  do  not  know  how  new 
factors  get  into  the  germ  cells. 

Inheritance  of  white  color.  It  is  much  easier  to  grade  up  the 
color  of  a  mongrel  flock  by  the  use  of  Barred  Rock  males  than  by 
the  use  of  White  Rock  males.  When  you  look  at  page  88  you  see 
at  the  top  a  mongrel  hen.  When  she  was  mated  to  a  White  Rock 
male  she  produced  a  barred  daughter,  and  it  took  another  dose  of 
pure  White  Rock  blood  to  produce  the  white  pullet  shown  in  the 
third  illustration.  At  the  top  in  this  illustration  is  shown  the  orig- 
inal dam,  and  below  are  successive  generations  which  were  the  result 
of  grading  up  with  purebred  White  Plymouth  Rock  males. 

In  mating  a  pure  Barred  Rock  male  on  a  mongrel  hen,  the  spe- 
cialists on  the  United  States  Government  poultry  farm  observed  that 
out  of  56  chicks,  52  carried  dominique  or  barred  markings,  and 


only  4  were  of  some  other  color. 
But  when  a  White  Rock  male  was 
used,  of  37  chicks  observed  and 
recorded,  only  3  possessed  white 
plumage,  and  34  had  poor  to  fair 
dominique  markings.  The  domi- 
nique  is  an  old-fashioned  sort  of 
barring  which  preceded  the  mod- 
ern barring  of  the  present-day 
Barred  Plymouth  Rock. 

The  second  generation  of  Bar- 
red Rock  grades  showed  54  bar- 
red out  of  55;  and  in  the  third 
generation  44  were  barred  out  of 
45;  but  of  the  White  Rocks  in 
the  second  generation,  40  were 
white  out  of  68,  and  in  the  third 
generation  42  were  white  out  of 
50.  The  white  of  the  White 
Plymouth  Rock,  therefore,  can- 
not be  said  to  be  a  dominant 
color  as  is  the  barring  of  the 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks. 

Color  patterns.  There  are  de- 
signs such  as  barring,  lacing  and 
penciling  which  are  found  on  the 
individual  feathers.  Thus,  a 
feather  of  a  Silver  Penciled 
Wyandotte  female  may  carry  the 
crescentic  black  lines  and  be 
called  a  penciled  feather.  The 
designs  exhibited  by  the  indi- 
vidual feathers  are  called  feather 
markings.  Then  there  is  the 
color-type  of  the  whole  bird,  in 
which  the  markings  and  color  of 
each  feather  play  their  part.  The 
color-type  of  the  Silver  Penciled 
Wyandotte  male  produces  a 
strong  contrasting  effect  when 
the  bird  is  viewed  as  a  whole. 

It  is  commonly  stated  that 
color  distinguishes  one  variety 
from  another,  and  that  shape  gives 
individuality  to  each  breed.  The 
one  exception  to  this  rule  among 
the  American  breeds  is  the  Rhode 
Island  Red,  of  which  there  are 
two  varieties,  which  are  distin- 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OF  PLUMAGE 


89 


guished   not    by    difference    in    color,    but    by    single    and   rose    combs. 

Many  people  believe  that  the  color  types  of  fowls  are  very  com- 
plex and  intricate.  The  fact  is  that  the  colors  of  chickens  are  rela- 
tively simple,  and  the  different  patterns  are  not  as  numerous  as 
some  suppose.  There  are  red  and  black  and  their  deviations,  buff 
and  blue,  also  white  with  which  to  work.  We  therefore  have  red, 
black,  white,  buff,  and  so-called  blue  varieties. 

There  also  are  combinations  of  two  colors  in  the  individual 
feathers,  giving  rise  to  barred,  laced,  penciled  and  Columbian  feather 
markings.  If  lacing  is  formed  by  a  black  edge  on  a  white  feather 
it  is  called  silver;  if  it  is  black  edging  on  a  reddish  ground  it  is 
called  golden.  If  the  penciling  is  formed  by  about  three  concentric 


Lacing. 


Barring. 


Penciling. 


bands  of  black  lacing  on  a  white  ground  it  is  called  silver  penciled; 
if  it  is  formed  by  black  penciling  on  a  reddish  ground  it  is  called 
partridge.  These  feather  patterns  are  not  difficult  to  understand;  it 
is  the  nomenclature  that  is  confusing. 

For  instance,  in  the  Wyandotte  breed,  a  silver  is  a  Silver  (laced) 
VVyandotte;  in  Rocks,  a  silver  is  a  Silver  (penciled)  Plymouth  Rock; 
in  both  breeds  a  golden  penciled  specimen  is  a  Partridge  Plymouth 
Rock  or  Wyandotte.  The  American  Poultry  Association  virtually  is 
obliged  to  accept  the  name  that  is  uppermost  in  popularity,  for  there 
are  few  instances  where  a  name  has  been  changed  successfully.  St. 
Petersburg  was  changed  to  Petrograd;  but  once  it  has  become  popular, 
a  name  usually  sticks,  no  matter  how  absurd  that  name  may  be.  For 
instance,  the  Cochin  is  truly  the  Shanghai,  and  probably  never  saw 


90 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 


Cochin-China;  the  Holstein  cow  is  truly  a  Friesian  from  Holland 
and  not  from  the  duchy  of  Holstein,  which  once  belonged  to  Den- 
mark a*nd  later  was  annexed  to  the  Germanic  confederation.  So  the 
student  who  really  wants  to  understand  the  varieties  may  find  it 
easier  to  study  the  color  patterns  first  and  apply  the  name  afterward. 
In  observing  color  types  the  student  will  note  that  often  the  male 
is  marked  differently  from  the  female.  The  illustration  below  shows 


Silver  Penciled  color  type  as  carried  by  the  Dark  Brahma.  The  Dark  Brahma 
was  the  parent  variety  from  which  the  Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rock  and  Silver 
Penciled  Wyandotte  derived  their  color. 

a  silver  penciled  male  and  female.  Why  should  the  male  be  so 
differently  colored  than  the  female?  We  do  not  know.  It  appears 
that  it  is  as  natural  for  this  male  to  be  a  strong  contrasting  black 
and  white  as  it  is  for  the  female  to  present  a  subdued  effect;  and  the 
one  is  the  natural  consort  of  the  other. 

It  will  be  noticed   that  the  markings   of  the  male's  neck   feathers 


COLOR  AND   STRUCTURE  OF   PLUMAGE  91 

and  the  saddle  feathers  of  his  back  differ  from  that  of  the  rest  of 
his  plumage.  This  peculiarity  of  striped  neck  and  saddle  feathers  is 
an  old  characteristic  and  is  exhibited  by  the  jungle  fowl.  The  neck 
of  the  Silver  Penciled  Wyandotte  female  is  also  striped,  as  is  the 
female  bankiva. 

Although  the  Silver  Penciled  is  a  comparatively  new  variety  of  the 
Wyandotte  breed,  the  pencil  character  is  an  old  characteristic,  arising, 
undoubtedly,  from  coarse  stippling  in  the  bankiva. 

In  the  wild  fowl,  lacing  does  not  appear,  and  the  details  of  its 
production  are  not  known.  Spangling  certainly  preceded  it,  in  which 
event  lacing  may  be  believed  to  have  arisen  from  crossbreeding 
spangling  and  penciling.  (See  illustrations  of  early  laced  and  span- 
gled feathers,  Chapter  XIII.) 

The  Columbian  color  type  has  been  produced  by  crossing  white 
fowls  on  Rhode  Island  Reds,  by  crossing  white  fowls  on  Silver  Pen- 
ciled, white  on  Light  Brahmas,  and  white  on  Barred  Rocks.  It 
appears  that  the  lacing  in  neck  and  saddle,  and  the  black  in  wing 
flights  and  tail,  are  black  points  of  the  bankiva  which  often  are 
dominant  in  breeding;  and  when  a  cross  is  made  that  eliminates  the 
bulk  of  the  body  plumage  color,  making  the  general  color  of  the  bird 
white,  the  exclusion  of  color  is  not  complete  and  expression  is  still 
given  to  these  black  points  which  make  the  Columbian  color  type. 
Black  is  inherited  in  tail  by  the  Rhode  Island  Red  and  by  those 
buff  offshoots  of  white  crossed  on  red. 

It  is  known  that  the  Plymouth  Rock  owes  its  barring  to  that  older 
variety,  the  Dominique.  The  barred  pattern  is  carried  in  hereditary 
form,  and,  unlike  the  Mottled  Java,  it  is  not  merely  an  intermediate 
condition  between  black  and  white  birds.  The  inheritance  of  barring 
illustrates  that  there  is  a  factor  for  this  color  pattern  as  well  as  the 
presence  of  pigment  to  give  expression  to  the  pattern. 

Breeding  color  and  markings.  Whether  we  find  the  color  of  a 
variety  easy  to  breed  or  not  will  depend  upon  the  success  with  which 
we  simplify  that  color  type  in  our  mind  and  master  the  breeding 
tendencies  of  the  variety.  That  means  that  we  familiarize  ourselves 
with  the  history  of  the  race  and  the  way  its  different  characters 
behave  in  transmission.  "To  know  the  constitution  of  the  race,  to 
know  the  factors  that  lie  hidden  in  the  germ  plasm,  as  well  as  those 
characters  that  are  on  parade,  enables  the  intelligent  poultryman  to 
make  use  of  desirable  characters  to  best  advantage  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  avoid  those  errors  in  breeding  which  result  from  insufficient 
knowledge  of  the  fundamental  constitution  of  the  race  involved," 
writes  Dr.  P.  H.  Hadley,  of  the  Rhode  Island  Agricultural  Station. 

It  is  not  uncommon  to  meet  a  man  who  expresses  the  desire  to 
own  sufficient  ground  and  equipment  to  enable  him  to  go  into  "fancy" 
poultry,  and  then  devote  his  best  thought  and  effort  to  building  up 
a  fine  flock.  But  fine  flocks  exist  only  because  they  represent  an 
aggregation  of  a  lot  of  fine  individual  birds  on  one  plant,  and  they 


92  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

are  built  up  not  by  flock  breeding,  but  by  the  breeding  of  selected 
individuals;  just  as  a  good  bird  is  good  not  because  of  a  glowing 
generality  of  "goodness,"  but  because  the  bird  is  an  aggregation  of 
units  that  are  in  themselves  good;  and  the  judge  who  would  fully 
appreciate  such  a  bird,  or  the  breeder  who  would  mate  it  so  as  to 
make  it  yield  improvement  in  the  next  generation,  must  be  a  man 
who  can  examine  the  units,  i.e.,  the  comb,  the  eye,  the  back  shape, 
feather  and  color,  and  so  on,  and  thus  know  not  only  why  the  bird  as 
a  whole  is  good,  but  in  what  particulars  it  is  good  and  in  what  par- 
ticulars it  is  deficient. 

The  color  patterns  run  in  grooves  or  ruts,  so  to  speak.  When  a 
man  speaks  of  the  tendencies  in  his  line  he  means  the  natural  tend- 
ency of  the  birds  to  breed  in  certain  directions. 

Inheritance  of  barred  color.  If  we  examine  the  Barred  Rocks,  we 
find  an  inherent  tendency  for  the  males  to  come  lighter  than  the 
females.  This  has  been  attributed  to  a  Black  Cochin  hen  that  was 
used  in  the  original  cross,  and  the  question  has  been  asked  why  the 
breed  could  not  have  been  made  by  using  a  black  male  on  Dominique 
hens  instead  of  vice  versa.  Of  course,  the  early  breeders  had  to  use 
what  was  available,  which  consisted  of  a  Dominique  or  cuckoo 
barred  male.  He  was  mated  to  a  Black  Cochin  or,  as  then  called,  a 
Black  Java  female. 

Later  study  has  shown  that  this  is  the  way  the  barred  color 
pattern  is  inherited,  i.e.,  from  the  male.  The  female  can  add  strength 
of  color,  but  barring  itself  is  a  character  that  is  linked  with  the  male, 
a  sex-linked  character,  and  the  male  can  be  pure  for  barring  and 
transmit  it  to  his  progeny.  Thus,  if  a  barred  male  is  mated  to  females 
of  a  heavily  pigmented  variety,  like  the  Dark  Cornish,  the  chicks 
are  relatively  dark,  but  barred;  whereas  if  the  cross  is  reversed  and 
a  Dark  Cornish  male  is  crossed  on  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  females, 
the  cockerels  alone  have  barred  plumage  and  the  pullets  are  black. 

Barring  behaves  in  transmission  like  the  factor  for  high  winter  egg 
production  (Chapter  III);  the  pattern  is  from  the  male,  the  color 
from  the  females.  A  properly  bred  male  will  therefore  grade  up  a 
flock  of  females  in  a  single  generation,  and  a  properly  bred  female 
will  transmit  her  quality  of  barring  to  her  sons. 

Let  us  inquire  further  into  this  inheritance  of  color.  Herewith 
is  illustrated  a  sample  of  the  grading-up  work  with  purebred  sires 
that  has  been  carried  on  at  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture 
poultry  farm.  There  is  shown  a  black  mongrel  and  a  barred  daugh- 
ter, also  a  tawny  red  mongrel  and  a  barred  daughter.  That  is  because 
these  mongrel  hens  were  mated  to  a  Plymouth  Rock  male  that  was 
pure  for  the  factor  of  barring.  The  barred  color  type  is  inherited 
from  the  male.  The  female  can  transmit  strength  of  color,  but  bar- 
ring itself  is  a  character  that  is  linked  with  the  male,  a  sex-linked 
character.  A  purebred  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male  will  stamp  his 
color  type  on  a  flock  of  mongrel  pullets  in  a  single  generation. 


COLOR  AND   STRUCTURE  OF   PLUMAGE 


If  the  cross  is  made  the  other  way  and  barred  females  are  mated 
to  mongrel  males,  the  purebred  Barred  Rock  female  will  transmit 
barring  to  her  sons  but  not  to  her  daughters.  The  character  of 
barring  is  always  linked  with  the  male. 

Now  here  are  the  salient  points  for  the  fancier-breeder  of  Barred 
Rocks  to  grasp:  If  you  want  to  breed  better  exhibition  pullets,  put 
your  money  in  a  pullet-bred  male.  He  will  transmit  barring  to  his 


A    Black    Mongrel    and    Her    Barred    Daughter.      A    Red    Mongrel    and    Her    Barred 
Daughter.      Result  of   Grading   Up  With  a   Pure   Barred  Plymouth   Rock   Male. 

daughters,  and  if  highly  bred  will  improve  his  daughters  in  the  first 
generation.  If  you  want  to  produce  better  exhibition  males,  spend 
your  money  for  a  good  cockerel-bred  female,  for  she  can  transmit 
barring  to  her  male  chicks.  Of  course,  a  good  exhibition  male  can 
do  the  same,  but  he  is  more  costly  than  a  good  cockerel-bred  female. 
The  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male  has  been  described  as  being 


94  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

"more  barred"  than  the  female.  It  is  easy  to  observe  this  difference 
in  ordinary  farm-bred  Plymouth  Rock  chicks  that  are  two  months 
old.  The  pullets,  on  first  notice,  appear  darker  than  their  brothers, 
and  close  inspection  reveals  the  fact  that  the  white  bar  in  the  cockerels 
in  much  cleaner,  much  purer,  and  the  black  bar  much  sharper  than 
in  the  pullets,  whose  black  bar  runs  into  the  white  and  whose  white 
bar  is  not  a  clean-cut  white."  When  these  males  mature  they  are  of 
a  lighter  color  than  the  pullets,. 

If  a  farmer  does  not  know  this  natural  tendency  in  the  Barred 
Rocks,  he  may  buy  a  male  as  dark  as  his  females  and  mate  them 
together;  but  if  he  is  informed,  he  does  not  commit  this  blunder; 
he  accepts  a  male  of  lighter  color  if  he  desires  to  produce  Standard 
colored,  clear,  beautiful  colored  females;  and  he  knows  that  if  he  is 
to  produce  males  that  will  be  dark  enough  to  match  those  Standard 
colored  females,  he  must  have  another  pen  and  breed  them  from  still 
darker  females.  He  therefore  has  two  matings. 

Double  mating.  Double  mating  sounds  formidable  and  intricate, 
and  while  it  is  complex  in  theory,  it  is  in  practice  the  simpler  kind 
of  mating.  If  you  are  to  produce  the  highest  type  of  male  and  the 
highest  type  of  female  from  the  same  pair,  you  must  strike  and 
hold  a  balance  like  a  boy  on  a  teter-totter  from  whose  center  extend 
the  end  of  the  plank  in  both  directions. 

In  double  mating  you  mate  a  pen  to  produce  pullets.  This  pen 
contains  females  of  Standard  color  to  which  you  mate  a  male  whose 
dam  was  a  fine  female  and  whose  sisters  are  fine  females.  It  is 
relatively  easy  to  produce  good  pullets  from  such  a  pen. 

For  cockerel  breeding  you  use  a  male  of  Standard  quality  mated 
to  females  whose  sire  was  a  good  male  and  whose  brothers  are  good 
males.  The  pullets  from  such  a  pen  are  not  expected  to  equal  the 
pullets  from  the  pullet  mating,  but  will  prove  to  be  good  cockerel 
breeders,  and  they  are  recognized  and  sold  as  "cockerel  breeders"  or 
"cockerel  breeding  females."  The  males  from  the  pullet  mating  are 
pullet  breeders,  not  that  they  will  produce  more  pullets  than  cock- 
erels, but  because  they  will  breed  better  pullets  than  cockerels. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  produce  good  males  and  females  from  one 
mating  than  it  is  to  produce  only  good  males  or  only  good  females 
from  a  single  mating.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  highest  type  specimens 
of  both  sexes  ever  can  be  produced  by  the  same  pair  in  any  kind  of 
livestock.  Where  a  sex-limited  factor  enters  in,  as  in  the  inheritance 
of  barring  in  the  Barred  Rock,  the  difficulty  is  beyond  immediate 
solution. 

To  show  what  appears  to  be  a  natural  tendency  of  lines  to  run  to 
males  or  females,  the  case  may  be  cited  of  a  breeder  of  a  buff  variety. 
Here  both  the  male  and  female  are  buff  and  there  is  not  that  pro- 
nounced diversity  of  color  type  that  one  sees  in  the  male  and  female 
of  many  particolored  varieties. 

It  might   appear   that   buff   color   could   be   single   mated,    that   is, 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OF   PLUMAGE  95 

equally  good  buff  cockerels  and  pullets  produced  from  a  single  pen. 
Yet  there  are  instances  of  buff  breeders  winning  well  year  after  year 
on  their  males  and  rarely  having  a  top  quality  female,  and  vice  versa. 

A  certain  exhibitor  won  at  the  Quincy  (Illinois)  show,  November, 
1918,  on  her  hens  and  pullets,  as  she  had  done  over  a  series  of  years. 
She  came  to  the  writer  and  asked  him  how  she  could  produce  some 
good  cockerels.  Here,  in  substance,  was  the  reply:  "You  will  have 
10  get  a  good  male,  madam,  before  you  can  breed  good  cockerels. 
If  you  are  to  have  the  kind  of  cockerels  you  want,  you  will  have  to 
have  that  kind  of  a  sire  close  up  in  the  ancestry." 

Later  she  returned  and  said:  "I  have  bought  a  cockerel  from 

Mr.  ,  who  is  showing  here.  He  always  wins  on  males,  has 

done  so  for  a  number  of  years,  and  the  judge  says  that  his  first 
cockerel  this  year  is  good  enough  for  Madison  Square  Garden.  He 
always  shows  good  males  just  as  I  show  the  winning  females.  I 
wish  you  would  come  over  and  look  at  the  bird  I  have  bought  and 
tell  me  how  you  would  mate  him.  Would  you  mate  him  to  the  females 
in  my  first  pen?" 

The  answer  was  "No."  Then  we  said:  "Breeding  is  not  as  simple 
as  mating  the  best  to  the  best.  You  must  take  into  account  the  tend- 
encies in  your  line.  You  propose  a  union  of  two  lines — one  with  a 
tendency  to  males  and  the  other  to  females." 

Our  advice  was:  "Take  your  best  females  and  breed  them  to  a 
cockerel  of  your  own  line,  and  thus  make  certain  that  you  can  come 
back  next  year  and  win  on  pullets.  You  know  your  own  blood  will 
knick  and  your  line  will  breed  that  way.  Mate  your  purchased  male 
to  some  good  big  females  to  make  sure  of  size  and  substance — 
females  that  are  left  from  your  first  mating — and  if  you  do  not  pro- 
duce a  single  cockerel  the  equal  of  its  sire,  do  not  be  discouraged,  but 
remember  that  you  are  starting  a  new  line.  Take  the  biggest,  strong- 
est pullets  that  the  purchased  male  sires  and  mate  them  back  to  him, 
and  two  years  from  now  you  will  come  to  Quincy  and  win  on 
cockerels." 

The  growth  of  plumage.  We  have  been  considering  color  and 
markings  and  how  they  behave  in  transmission.  Now  let  us  give  some 
thought  to  the  growth  and  development  of  all  the  good  and  beautiful 
that  we  have  bred  into  the  plumage. 

The  feathers  grow  from  the  under  layer  of  the  skin,  there  being 
three  layers.  All  of  the  material  of  which  they  are  made,  including 
the  pigment,  must  be  supplied  by  the  blood  through  the  skin.  As 
the  new  feathers  grow,  they  are  sheathed  with  a  horny  substance 
which  serves  to  protect  the  great  mass  of  detail  which  the  new 
feather  is  to  comprise,  and  this  horny  covering  probably  aids  also 
in  the  growth  of  the  feather.  This  pin  feather  is  conical  in  shape,  and 
as  it  grows  it  splits  up,  the  sheath  falls  off,  and  the  feathers  open  out. 

It  requires  a  minimum  of  about  six  weeks  for  a  feather  to  grow 


96  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

after  a  bird  has  molted  on  old  feathers  or  a  feather  has  been  pulled 
Tt  takes  somewhat  longer  to  grow  a  main  tail  or  wing  feather. 

Growing  chickens  produce  about  three  sets  of  plumage  in  their 
growing  year.  To  meet  the  needs  of  their  enlarging  bodies,  they 
constantly  are  losing  feathers  and  growing  new  ones  which  are  built 
on  a  larger  scale  and  are  firmer  and  more  durable. 

The  second  crop  of  feathers  is  stronger  and  better  webbed.  The 
structure  of  the  adult  crop  differs  considerably  in  the  sexes.  It 
appears  that  the  male  character  of  plumage  is  closely  associated 
with  the  development  of  the  reproductive  organs.  This  opinion  is 
borne  out  by  the  fact  that  hens  have  been  known  to  molt  into  male 
plumage  as  a  result  of  a  degenerate  and  pathological  condition  of 
the  ovaries. 

A  hen  that  assumed  male  plumage  is  described  and  illustrated  in 
a  bulletin  by  Cole  and  Lippincott,  Wisconsin  and  Kansas  agricultural 
colleges.  This  hen  had  a  large  ovarian  tumor.  Female  plumage  wa? 
again  grown  after  an  implantation  of  ovarian  tissue  from  a  healthy, 
normal  pullet. 

The  chick  feathers  may  be  quite  differently  colored  from  what  one 
would  expect  from  seeing  pictures  of  adult  birds,  but  the  beginner 
should  not  be  discouraged  and  he  should  not  trust  himself  to  cull  out 
the  birds  until  they  are  at  least  six  months  old,  when  he  may  judge 
their  quality  with  some  accuracy  and  satisfaction.  Even  the  Partridge 
cockerels  may  then  show  red  in  the  breast;  the  Columbian  pullets 
also  may  show  gray  or  black  in  the  back.  Before  rejecting  these 
birds  as  faulty  colored,  look  under  the  surface  at  the  young,  fresh 
new  feathers  that  are  coming;  judge  the  merit  of  the  bird's  plumage 
by  adult  feathers  that  he  eventually  is  to  carry  on  the  surface  as 
indicated  by  the  quality  of  the  last  crop  of  feathers  coming  in. 

The  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  carries  barring  as  a  chick  as  well  as 
when  mature.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find  very  straight  bars  in  the 
second-growth  feathers  of  the  cockerels.  Some  amateurs  make  it  a 
point  to  exhibit  Barred  Rock  cockerels  that  are  full  of  such  "chick 
feathers"  and  then  emphasize  the  wonderful  quality  of  their  birds. 
Occasionally  one  sees  in  print  an  attractive  feather  chart  of  straight- 
barred  cockerel  feathers  which  are  nothing  more  than  reproductions 
of  chick  feathers. 

A  chicken  grows  two  crops  of  feathers  before  it  receives  its  final 
adult  plumage.  At  first  the  structure  of  the  cockerel's  feathers  is 
precisely  like  those  of  the  chick  pullet. 

Since  the  very  young1  cockerels  and  pullets  are  feathered  alike  to 
a  marked  degree,  some  breeders  have  selected  the  best  colored  male 
chicks  to  be  the  sires  of  their  pullets,  and  then  bred  them  regardless 
of  what  objectionable  features  their  color  may  have  exhibited  when 
they  were  mature.  The  point  is  worth  noting,  for  the  practice  of 
picking  pullet  breeders  in  this  way  is  becoming  more  general. 

The  Molt.     It  is  generally  conceded,  and  borne  out  by  many  trap- 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OK  PLUMAGE 


97 


nest  records,  that  good  layers  are  late  molters.  Such  hens  may  molt 
quickly,  once  they  start,  because  they  are  birds  of  unusual  vigor.  In 
molting  and  coming  out  fresh  and  new  and  beautiful  again,  every  bird 
somewhat  resembles  the  fairy  form  in  the  legend  of  the  phoenix,  that 
mythical  bird  of  Egypt  that  arose  with  renewed  youth  from  its 
ashes.  Nature's  plan  seems  to  be  that  the  world  shall  be  ever  young 
and  fresh,  and  in  the  new  green  grass,  the  new  foliage  of  the  trees 


Early  molter.  Silver  Wyandotte  that  began  molting  in  June.  Her 
egg  record  for  the  year  was  85  eggs  at  Missouri  Poultry  Experiment 
Station.  The  lacing  of  this  hen's  plumage  is*  defective.  She  has  what 
are  termed  "mossy  centers." 

and  the  new  plumage  of  the  birds,  we  embrace  fresh  youth  and  beauty 
from  year  to  year  to  the  very  end  of  life. 

The  process  of  molting  is  that  of  shedding  the  old  feathers  and 
growing  new  ones.  It  is  done  in  the  late  summer  and  fall,  perhaps 
to  provide  a  new  suit  of  warm  clothing  for  winter.  The  average  hen 
does  not  lay  while  she  is  molting,  and  it  is  common  practice  to  put 


98  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

the  hens  on  light  feed,  oftentimes  whole  oats,  and  give  them  "a  rest." 
Every  effort  should  be  made,  however,  to  prevent  the  vitality  of 
the  birds  from  becoming  lowered.  This  is  especially  important  in 
show  stock,  for,  through  lowered  vitality,  the  bird  may  molt  in  some 
white  feathers  where  black,  red  or  buff  originally  prevailed.  Our  own 
notion  is  that  birds  in  the  molt  should  receive  easily  digested  food 
such  as  ground  oats  mixed  with  sour  milk,  and  be  given  the  range 
of  an  orchard  or  creek  flat,  if  possible. 

The  opinion  was  somewhat  general  a  few  years  ago  that  it  paid 
to  throw  the  hens  into  a  molt  by  a  radical  change  in  feed,  cutting  out 
the  mash  and  putting  the  birds  on  a  light  grain  feed.  The  poultry 
department  at  Cornell  University  carried  on  an  experiment  to  deter- 
mine the  advisability  of  forcing  fowls  to  shed  their  feathers  early  in 
the  season,  with  the  hope  of  inducing  them  to  lay  earlier  in  the  winter. 
The  findings  indicated  that 

It  does  not  pay  to  "force  a  molt"  by  starvation  methods  and  that  apparently  it 
is  good  policy  to  encourage  hens,  by  good  care  and  feeding,  to  lay  during  late 
summer  and  fall,  rather  than  to  resort  to  unusual  means  to  stop  laying  in  order  to 
induce  an  early  molt,  with  the  hope  of  increasing  productiveness  during  the  early 
winter,  a  season  which  naturally  is  unfavorable  for  egg  production.  In  short,  it 
appears  wise,  when  hens  want  to  lay,  to  let  them  lay. 

Some  further  data  on  the  molt  were  published  by  the  Poultry 
Department,  Cornell  University,  in  Bulletin  No.  258,  September,  1908. 
This  bulletin  is  out  of  print  now,  but  the  data  presented  in  it  are  as 
applicable  today  as  in  the  beginning,  for  the  nature  of  hens  has  not 
changed.  We  quote: 

The  first  mature  molt  comes  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  laying.  It  seems  to 
be  a  necessary  renewal  of  the  worn-out  plumage.  Feathers,  like  clothes,  wear  out. 
In  the  mature  molt  it  was  found  that  the  molt  seldom  began  while  the  hen  was 
laying.  Quite  a  few  feathers  might  be  shed  earlier  in  the  season  and  during  produc- 
tion, but  in  most  cases  the  shedding  of  feathers  ceased  for  a  week  or  two,  often  for 
a  much  longer  period,  then  the  entire  plumage  was  renewed.  For  convenience,  this 
latter  part  of  the  molt  is  termed  the  "general  molt."  During  this  molt  some  hens 
shed  only  a  few  feathers  at  a  time  in  the  different  feather  tracts,  looking  we'll 
clothed  throughout  the  molt,  while  others  shed  almost  the  entire  plumage  at  once. 

It  is  variously  asserted  that  the  time  required  for  the  growth  of  a  body  feather 
on  a  healthy  fowl  is  approximately  forty-two  days,  while  the  time  needed  to  develop 
the  tail  is  somewhat  longer.  This  refers  to  pluclked  feathers.  The  usual  molting 
period  of  a  hen  cannot,  however,  be  calculated  accurately  from  this  estimate.  The 
molting  process  continues  much  longer  than  is  usually  supposed,  and  there  is  con- 
siderable variation  in  the  time  of  beginning  the  molt  between  different  individuals  and 
between  flocks  of  different  ages ;  also  a  wide  variation  in  the  length  of  time  it 
requires  individuals  to  complete  the  molt. 

The  fact  that  hens,  though  well  fed,  lost  weight  in  the  process  of  molt  would 
indicate  something  of  the  strain  imposed  on  them  by  the  production  of  new  feathers. 
It  is  apparent  that  as  molting  increased  egg  production  decreased.  Almost  without 
exception  this  was  true  with  both  starved  and  fed  flocks  during  each  period :  it  was 
strikingly  true  during  the  starvation  period.  While  some  of  the  hens  continued  -to 
lay  after  beginning  to  molt,  and  a  few  began  laying  before  completing  their  new 
coat,  no  hen  continued  to  lay  during  the  entire  molting  period. 

Persistent  layers,  unless  broody,  appeared  to  begin  the  molt  within  a  week  after 
the  last  egg,  and  usually  were  in  heavy  molt  in  less  than  two  weeks.  Those  begin- 
ning to  molt  after  October  first  shed  more  quickly  and  refeather  more  rapidly  than 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE  OF  PLUMAGE  99 

those  molting  earlier,  especially  to  the  stage  of  advanced  molt,  when  their  bodies 
were  well  protected.  Hen  No.  61  was  a  good  example.  It  was  fifty-six  days  from 
the  time  she  began  to  shed  until  she  had  grown  a  complete  coat  of  feathers. 

In  these  observations  it  was  found  that  from  all  pens  the  hens  which  began  to 
molt  before  September  15  averaged  108  days  molting,  while  those  which  began  after 
that  date  molted  in  81  days.  The  hens  molting  before  September  15  began  to  lay  39 
days  after  the  completion  of  the  individual  molt;  those  molting  after  September  15 
began  to  lay  in  43  days  after  they  were  completely  refeathered.  Although  the  early 
molting  hens  laid  more  winter  eggs,  they  did  not  lay  more  eggs  during  the  year. 
Those  beginning  to  molt  before  September  15  averaged  103  eggs  and  those  molting 
later  average  126  eggs. 

Secondary  molt  of  pullets.  A  common  objection  to  early  hatched 
pullets  is  that  they  are  apt  to  go  into  a  "secondary"  molt  late  in  the 
fall.  This  is  especially  true  if  they  are  forced  for  eggs  early  in  the  fall. 
Some  breeders  hold  back  their  early  pullets  during  August  and  Sep- 
tember, feeding  them  largely  on  oats  and  providing  no  rich  mash, 
and  then  put  a  mash  containing  a  protein  supplement  before  the  birds 
in  time  to  bring  them  into  heavy  October  and  November  lay.  The 
egg  market  usually  is  high  the  latter  part  of  November,  and  it  is  a 
disappointment  to  have  early  pullets  go  into  a  molt.  Sometimes  the 
pullet  molt  is  only  slight  and  for  a  short  time,  and  again  it  is  of  such 
a  nature  as  seriously  to  reduce  egg  production  throughout  the  remain- 
der of  the  winter.  The  commonly  accepted  advantage  of  a  pullet  that 
molts  is  her  better  breeding  value  the  coming  spring.  Breeders  for 
commercial  egg  production  frequently  endeavor  to  time  their  hatch- 
ing so  that  the  pullets  will  start  to  laying  early  in  the  winter,  for 
those  beginning  production  before  September  1  nearly  always  molt. 

Effect  of  late  hatching  on  color.  It  often  happens  that  late  hatched 
birds  make  the  best  colored  ones  the  next  season.  The  late  bird  does 
not  have  time  to  mature  its  plumage  before  cold  weather  sets  in, 
which  apparently  arrests  the  normal  course  of  its  feather  develop- 
ment, so  the  bird  goes  through  the  winter  with  a  part  of  its  chick 
plumage  intact.  The  following  summer  it  molts  into  what  practically 
amounts  to  a  mature  cockerel  or  pullet  plumage.  Such  a  male  goes 
into  the  show  as  a  cock,  but  with  the  advantage  of  a  cockerel's  feather, 
and  such  a  hen  has  the  soundness  of  color  of  a  pullet,  lacking  only 
the  pullet's  life  and  bloom  to  her  feather.  It  is  hard  to  beat  such 
birds,  provided  their  development  was  not  arrested  by  early  winter 
before  they  were  mature,  and  provided  they  have  sufficient  size  of 
body.  Some  of  the  leading  exhibitors  make  it  a  point  to  hatch  a 
number  of  late  chicks. 

The  later  bird  often  has  greater  intensity  of  color.  Whether  the 
early  bird  grows  a  larger  feather  in  which  the  color  is  not  so  concen- 
trated, we  do  not  know.  We  have  noticed  that  a  Columbian  hen,  for 
instance,  may  have  an  especially  strong  colored  hackle  at  an  early 
show,  but  after  the  feather  is  completely  grown  and  extended  to  the 
full  limits  of  its  size,  the  color  is  not  so  intense. 

Nutrition  has  a  large  influence  on  these  matters.  If  you  want  to 
see  the  gray,  washed-out,  weak-colored  specimens,  look  over  into  the 


100  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

hen  yard  of  some  careless  poultrykeeper  and  see  the  underfed  chickens 
there.  Then  picture  the  full  feeder  who  knows  that  growing  plumage 
requires  food,  and  that  weakened  vitality  of  a  check  in  growth  will 
show  in  the  feather. 

In  fact,  a  famous  winning  male  or  female  chicken  one  year  is  not 
so  sure  to  return  and  repeat  the  triumph  the  following  year  as  is  a 
purebred  horse,  or  bull,  or  boar,  because  there  is  not  the  same  cer- 
tainty of  a  fowl  returning  to  its  best  quality  of  plumage. 

Easily  digested  food,  containing  some  sulphur,  saccarated  car- 
bonate of  iron,  and  linseed  meal  are  often  fed,  except  to  white  birds, 
during  the  molt,  and  also  to  growing  chickens  after  they  are  fourteen 
weeks  of  age.  The  story  has  been  told  of  the  Hamburg  breeders  of 
the  west  of  England  not  being  able  to  compete  with  those  of  York- 
shire, and  it  was  found  that  the  growing  birds  in  Yorkshire  drank 
water  which  sprang  from  the  iron  rock.  Thereupon,  after  their  chicks 
reached  fourteen  weeks  of  age  they  began  to  color-feed  by  adding  iron. 

The  color  of  this  plumage  with  which  we  work  probably  is  due 
both  to  pigment  and  structure.  The  sheen  probably  is  superficial 
and  due  to  refraction  of  light.  Oil  probably  helps  the  blood  supply 
in  the  nutritional  processes,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  sheen — 
which  is  especially  important  in  a  black  feather  and  hardly  less  so  in 
a  red  one,  since  it  bestows  life  to  the  whole  plumage — is  due  to  the 
oil  hardening  into  minute  crystals  and  refracting  the  light. 

Color  of  lobes,  eyes  and  shanks.  In  a  chapter  in  which  is  dis- 
cussed color  of  plumage,  perhaps  we  may  mention  additional  features 
whose  colors  give  distinctiveness  to  our  fowls. 

The  color  of  the  skin  of  all  American  breeds  is  yellow,  and  this 
leads  to  a  yellow  shank  in  all  save  the  Black  Wyandotte  and  the 
Black  Java,  the  bottoms  of  whose  feet  should  be  yellow.  Effort  is 
being  made  to  breed  Black  Wyandottes  with  yellow  shank,  as  will  be 
outlined  in  the  chapter  on  this  variety.  Dusky  yellow  shanks  are 
particularly  common  in  the  Partridge  varieties. 

The  color  of  the  ear  lobe  should  be  red,  and  as  is  characteristic  of 
red-lobed  breeds,  the  American  breeds  lay  brown  eggs.  Of  course, 
the  eggs  are  not  of  a  uniform  brown.  It  seems  easy  enough  to  get 
a  uniform  white-shelled  egg — but  here  there  is  an  absence  of  color 
pigment.  When  it  comes  to  depositing  color,  scarcely  no  two  hens 
deposit  the  same  amount,  and  the  tints  of  brown  eggs  vary. 

The  ear  lobes  should  be  red.  Positive  enamel  white  disqualifies  a 
Plymouth  Rock,  Java  or  Dominique,  male  or  female,  no  matter  how 
small  the  spot  of  unquestionable  white  may  be.  In  Wyandottes, 
Rhode  Island  Reds  and  Buckeyes,  ear  lobes  more  than  one-quarter 
positive  enamel  white  disqualify.  Enamel  white  should  not  be  con- 
fused with  paleness.  The  latter  may  be  due  to  worms,  especially  if 
redness  is  frequently  followed  by  paleness.  In  judging,  a  bird  should 
be  given  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  it  is  recommended  that  he  be 


COLOR  AND  STRUCTURE.  OF  ,  PLGMAGE,  '  101 

held  for  a  minute,  head  down,  giving  the  blood  an  opportunity  to  rush 
to  the  head  and  flush  the  ear  lobe. 

The  eyes  of  all  the  American  varieties  should  be  reddish-bay, 
except  in  the  Black  Java,  which  should  approach  black.  Probably 
there  never  is  a  pure  black  eye  in  a  chicken.  Some  specimens  have 
gray  or  fish-coloned  eyes.  It  is  a  mean  ^defect,  more  serious  than 
formerly,  for  whereas  the  Standard  that  was  in  force  in  1900  specified 
a  cut  of  one-half  point  for  off-colored  eyes,  the  present  requirement 
is  a  maximum  cut  of  one  and  one-half  points.  In  thus  drawing 
attention  to  eye  color  with  some  emphasis,  gray  eyes  have  become 
quite  objectionable.  Fortunately,  the  defect  is  easily  corrected,  red 
being  dominant  to  gray,  and  a  good  red-eyed  bird  introduced  into  a 
flock  will  make  a  big  improvement  in  the  first  generation.  It  should 
be  understood  that  it  is  the  iris  that  carries  the  color,  not  the  pupil 
of  the  eye.  The  comb  should  be  red.  A  tinge  of  blue  in  the  blade 
of  the  comb  usually  indicates  liver  trouble,  and  a  level  teaspoonful 
of  epsom  salt  to  the  specimen  so  affected  will  commonly  correct  the 
trouble.  More  green  food  or  roughage  should  then  be  added  to  the 
ration. 


102 


•THE  AMERICAN-  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


Barred  Plymouth  Rock  Male  as  Bred  by  E.  B.  Thompson,  Amenia,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
BARRED  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS. 

The  First  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks — Early  constructive  breeders — 
Early  history  enlivened  by  controversy — Influence  of  the  American 
Dominique — Barring  comes  lighter  in  the  male  than  the  female — First 
instructions  on  breeding — A  new  generation  of  breeders — Influence 
and  success  of  Hawkins,  Bradley,  Latham,  Wells  and  Thompson — 
Pedigrees  of  the  Ringlets — Mating  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  for  color 
— Double  mating — How  to  start. 

The  first  so-called  Plymouth  Rock  fowl  was  originated  py  Dr. 
John  C.  Bennett  of  Plymouth,  Mass.,  about  1849.  It  proved  to  be  a 
somewhat  superior  layer  than  the  large  Asiatics  and  it  reached  ma- 
turity somewhat  earlier.  This  new  fowl  of  Dr.  Bennett's  carried 
Shanghai,  Malay,  Dorking  and  Game  blood;  and  the  specimens  lacked 
distinctive  breed  character  and  were,  in  other  words,  purely  cross- 
breds.  The  males  carried  considerable  red  in  their  hackles  and  sad- 
dles, many  of  the  pullets  had  green  colored  shanks  and  nearly  half  of 
them  were  five  toed.  It  was  then  that  John  Giles,  one  of  the  early 
American  fanciers,  wrote:  "Could  you  not  cross  so  as  to  have  one 
distinct  color  of  leg  and  plumage?"  Although  Mr.  Giles  proceeded 
to  breed  the  new  Plymouth  Rock  fowl,  and  set  for  himself  a  Stan- 
dard of  "dark  color,  dark  legs  and  four  toes  only,"  the  cross  at  last 
became  extinct  or  was  absorbed  into  the  common  stock  of  the  coun- 
try, and  there  is  no  further  record  of  it. 

First  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks.  For  a  time  no  Plymouth  Rocks 
existed;  but  the  shadow  that  had  passed  had  been  given  a  name  which 
endured,  and  when  D.  A.  Upham  of  Wilsonville,  Conn.,  exhibited  at 
Worcester,  Mass.,  in  March,  1869,  a  trio  of  fowls  that  were  in  color 
bluish  gray,  crossed  by  darker  bars,  giving  what  would  today  be 
called  an  indistinct  barring  to  their  plumage — they  were  christened 
"Improved  Plymouth  Rocks."  They  were  the  first  fowls  of  the  name 
to  become  thoroughly  established  as  to  size,  shape  and  color  mark- 
ings. They  were  the  American  fanciers'  first  great  creation;  and 
their  good  qualities  have  been  handed  on  and  commended  to  each 
succeeding  year.  As  tradition  has  carried  in  her  hand  the  story  of 
that  little  granite  bowlder,  Plymouth  Rock,  on  which  the  Pilgrims 
stepped  as  they  came  ashore  in  wild  New  England  four  centuries  ago, 
tradition  hands  on  down  the  prestige  of  the  Plymouth  Rock,  good  as 
the  Puritan  fathers,  strong  as  the  Puritan  hearts,  productive  as  was 
virgin  New  England. 

Upham  had  secured  in  the  fall  of  1866  a  trio  of  birds  from  a 
farmer  by  the  name  of  Spaulding,  who  lived  near  Putnam,  Conn., 

103 


104  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

and  who  grew  poultry  for  market  purposes  and  bred  strong,  vigor- 
ous, early-maturing  stock.  Spaulding  had  all  sorts  of  barn  yard 
fowls,  and  a  friend  told  Upham  of  the  dominique  colored  ones  in 
the  fall  of  1866,  and  Upham  had  gone  to  see  them. 

Spaulding  had  crossed  the  year  before,  according  to  Upham's  own 
account,  published  in  Poultry  Argus,  Polo,  Illinois,  May,  1874, 

A  fine,  large,  old-fashioned  hawk-colored  cock  to  very  large  Black  Cochin 
hens,  witn  legs  heavily  feathered,  producing  many  black  pullets  and  a  few  black 
and  white  puliets,  some  with  legs  clear  from  feathers,  others  more  or  less  feathered ; 
but  the  cockerels  were  invariably  steel  grey  in  color,  a  few  without  feathers  on 
legs,  many  of  them  heavily  feathered,  with  body  plumage  very  handsome.  I  selected 
the  best  trio,  to  my  idea  of  what  I  wanted  to  produce,  and  bred  from  them,  and 
one-half  or  more  of  the  chicks  were  anything  but  what  I  wanted  to  breed  from; 
many  of  the  pullets  came  black,  a  few  were  black  and  white,  very  handsomely  marked 
and  legs  minus  feathers;  but  the  cockerels  invariably  came  steel  grey  in  color, 
with  fine  single  combs,  some  of  them  free  from  feathers  on  legs,  but  the  majority 
of  them  heavily  feathered  on  their  legs. 

Spaulding  had  only  bred  the  birds  a  year  when  Upham  made  his 
original  purchase.  Each  of  the  three  birds  that  comprised  his  original 
trio  had  been  produced  by  Spaulding  from  "a  cross  between  a  large 
common  hawk-colored,  single  comb  dunghill  cock  with  pure  Black 
Cochin  hens."  The  trio  as  purchased  by  Upham  had  feathers  on  the 
shanks,  indicating  unmistakably  their  Asiatic  blood.  Mr.  Upham  then 
bred  the  trio,  and  the  stock  produced  satisfactory  results;  most  of  the 
chicks  were  of  the  desired  color  in  both  sexes,  there  were  some  black 
pullets  as  he  relates,  but  he  was  able  to  select  both  cockerels  and 
pullets  with  shanks  which  were  yellow  in  color  and  reasonably  free 
from  feathers. 

Upham  introduced  additional  Asiatic  blood  into  his  strain,  and 
in  three  years  between  1871  and  1874,  he  made  such  progress  in 
breeding  the  variety  true  to  "feather  and  points"  that,  in  1874,  he  wrote 
that  he  was  able  to  get  "a  greater  number  of  fine  exhibition  birds 
from  a  clutch  of  eggs  than  from  any  other  variety  I  ever  bred."  How- 
ever, from  his  first  Spaulding  purchase  he  bred  birds  of  such  a  quality 
as  enabled  him  to  make  his  historic  exhibit  at  Worcester,  1869,  where 
the  new  variety  created  such  a  sensation  that  he  took  orders  for  one 
hundred  sittings  of  eggs  for  hatching  at  the  then  remunerative  price 
of  $2  a  sitting.  At  Worcester,  Upham  sold  a  trio  to  C.  Carol  Loring, 
a  man  who  remained  well  known  in  poultry  breeding  circles  well  up 
into  the  twentieth  century.  This  Loring  purchase  was  the  source  of 
Mark  Pitman's  original  stock,  a  breeder  who  was  soon  to  become 
prominent  in  the  variety. 

Early  constructive  breeders.  Pitman  was  one  of  the  first  great 
improvers  of  the  breed.  He  was  perhaps  the  first  breeder  to  look  at 
the  individual  feathers  on  a  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  and  not  accept 
the  color  pattern  as  a  whole.  As  a  result  of  analyzing  the  plumage, 
he  saw  the  value  of  contrast  between  the  light  and  dark  bars. 

Pitman,  at  his  home  in  Salem.  Mass.,  developed  a  flock  of  Plym- 
outh Rocks  known  as  the  Essex  Country  Strain,  and  the  birds  of 


BARRED  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  105 

this  family  were  distinguished  in  their  day  by  what  was  then,  in  com- 
parison with  the  common  run  of  Barred  Rocks,  distinct,  strong  color. 
He  continued  to  breed  the  stock  until  1876,  when  the  flock  passed  into 
the  hands  of  1.  K.  Felch  of  Natick,  Mass.  Felch  furnished  eight  of 
the  best  birds  to  H.  B.  May,  also  of  Natick.  While  Pitman  was  one 
of  the  most  experienced  and  capable  fanciers  of  his  generation,  the 
late  Messrs.  Felch  and  May  were  among  the  most  prominent  judges 
and  breeders  of  their  day;  the  result  was  that  the  Essex  strain  con- 
tinued in  good  hands,  and  became  the  most  popular  family  of  the 
breed. 

May  was  an  experimenter.  He  tried  to  clear  up  the  color  of  his 
birds  by  infusing  Light  Brahma  blood,  and  later  employed  Game 
blood  to  add  constitutional  vigor  and  robustness.  He  also  continued 
that  close  observation  and  study  that  had  brought  success  to  Pitman 
as  a  breeder  of  barred  color;  and  May  is  credited  with  first  hitting 
upon  the  double  mating  system  of  breeding  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks 
for  color. 

The  Essex  strain  was.  the  leader  for  more  than  ten  years,  its  fame 
spread,  its  best  specimens  were  the  leading  winners,  and  other  fami- 
lies were  founded  upon  it. 

Other  principal  stocks  in  the  early  history  of  the  breed  were 
the  flock  which  Spaulding  continued  to  breed;  the  flock  of  Upham 
which  held  the  foremost  position  in  the  variety  prior  to  the  forging 
ahead  of  Pitman,  and  later  of  Felch,  May,  and  the  flock  of  A.  H. 
Drake  of  Stoughton,  Mass.,  known  as  the  Drake  strain.  While  the 
L'pham,  Pitman  and  May  stock  trace  in  a  direct  line  to  the  Spauid- 
ing  source,  the  Drake  strain  is  of  different  origin. 

Drake  was  engaged  in  the  business  of  picking  up  fowls  about  the 
country  for  market  purposes.  One  day,  as  he  traveled  along  the 
countryside,  a  flock  of  hawk-colored  fowls  caught  his  eye.  He  pur- 
chased them  for  market  purposes  but  upon  getting  them  home,  he 
was  so  attracted  to  them  that  he  decided  not  to  butcher  them.  This 
was  about  1867. 

The  Drake  strain,  like  Spaulding's.  "was  founded  in  part  on  hawk- 
colored  barn-door  fowls."  Dark  Brahma  blood  was  used  by  Drake 
to  reinforce  the  size  of  his  birds,  and  his  stock  carried  more  or  less 
of  the  Brahma  type  and  his  birds  are  recorded  as  having  been  some- 
what "darker  in  color." 

Drake  went  into  the  poultry  huckstering  business  as  a  result  of 
poor  health,  and  later  he  was  dependent  for  a  livelihood  upon  the 
sale  of  his  Plymouth  Rocks.  Necessarily  he  had  to  be  a  good  breeder. 
He  improved  his  stock  by  the  Dark  Brahma  cross  and  then  by  a  Pit- 
man male.  He  produced  several  birds  of  outstanding  quality,  and 
upon  his  death  several  of  his  best  specimens  went  into  the  hands  of 
the  late  Philander  Williams  of  Taunton.  Mass.,  who  was  contem- 
poraneous with  Felch  and  May  as  one  of  America's  greatest  breeders. 

Felch  claims  to  have  used  some  of  the  Drake  blood  between   1876 


106  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

and  1878,  although  May  has  been  credited  with  having  made  the  mat- 
ings  at  his  home  place  in  Natick.  Felch  and  May  had  the  Pitman 
stock,  and  it  had  been  so  well  bred  that  it  controlled  the  color  in 
their  flocks,  and  by  amalgamating  the  Drake  blood  with  the  Upham- 
Pitman  line,  they  produced  such  phenomenal  birds  that  the  appellation 
"Essex  Country  Strain"  by  which  Pitman  had  designated  this  stock, 
was  dropped,  and  Felch  took  the  title  "Essex  strain." 
From  1876  to  1878,  according  to  Felch,  was: 

The  most  notable  time  from  the  transformation  from  the  crude  to  phenomenal 
perfection,  since  which  time  the  Plymouth  Rock  has  received  the  homage  of  Ameri- 
can breeders  and  has  been  accepted  by  them  as  a  breed  strictly  first  class  in  merit 
and  having  all  the  characteristics  of  a  pure  breed.  The  fanciers  of  America  builded 
better  than  they  Iknew  when  they  took  up  the  crossbred  denizens  of  New  England 
farms  and  by  their  skill  and  perseverance  secured  the  results  to  be  seen  in  the 
Plymouth  Rock. 

Other  sources  of  origin.  A  great  many  other  breeders  participated 
in  the  breeding  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks.  Some  claimed  to  be 
originators,  and  the  fact  of  the  matter  was,  that  both  the  fundamental 
hawk-colored  stock  and  Asiatic  stock  existed  in  many  communities. 
Felch  records  that  the  gray-blue  color  of  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks 
of  different  breeders  "came  through  several  different  sources,  but  its 
fixed  color  came  through  the  blood  of  the  old  New  England  Domi- 
nique males  in  nearly  all  families  and  strains."  He  then  states  that 
facts  gleaned  by  him  in  1870,  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the  breed, 
indicate  different  elements  figuring  in  the  make-up  of  the  breed,  which 
were  combined  somewhat  as  follows: 

1.  Black    Spanish — the    old    Minorca    red-faced    Spanish — on    Buff 
Cochins  or  Shanghais. 

2.  Black  Spanish  on  English  Gray  Dorking,  top  crossed  with  Ameri- 
can Dominiques. 

3.  Black   Spanish   on    White    Cochins,   top   crossed   with   American 
Dominiques. 

4.  American  Dominiques  mated  to   Buff  Cochins,  the  progeny  in- 
bred. 

5.  White  Birminghams,  a  name  given  by  Felch  to  White  Brahmas 
on    Black    Javas    of    1850,    top    crossed    with    American    Dominiques. 
These   Javas,    says    Felch,    were    "an    Asiatic    product   with    feathered 
shanks.     They  were  swallowed  up  in  the   Black   Cochins  at  the  time 
our  first  Standard  was  made  and  their  identity  lost." 

6.  White  Birmingham  on  Black  Javas,  the  females  mated  to  males 
from  group  5. 

These  numerous  crosses  suggest  many  centers  of  origin.  It  is 
plain  that  all  of  the  early  Plymouth  Rocks  were  crossbreds,  but  the 
stock  so  originated  had  qualities  of  usefulness  that  overcame  all 
prejudice  and  the  new  breed  gained  favor  on  its  merits.  In  the  fancy 
today,  the  Plymouth  Rock  is  no  longer  looked  upon  as  a  mongrel, 
but  as  a  high-type,  productive  thoroughbred.  Condemned  by  some 
as  a  mongrel  on  the  start,  yet  the  breed  has  triumphed.  As  the 


BARRED   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS  107 

cream  rises  in  the  milk  and  is  skimmed,  that  which  is  worthy  rises, 
and  the  hand  of  time  separates  it. 

Early  history  enlivened  by  controversy.  As  the  pleasing  and  prac- 
tical form  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  became  established  in  the  minds  of 
breeders,  and  as  its  qualities  of  usefulness  became  understood  among 
them,  it  began  to  be  the  subject  of  close  study  and  wide  discussion. 
Controversies  arose  over  its  early  origin,  and  were  carried  on  with 
vigor  in  the  poultry  press.  One  particular  point  in  debate  was  the 
influence  of  the  Black  Cochin  versus  the  Black  Java  on  the  first 
crosses  from  which  the  variety  had  sprung.  The  argument  centered 
on  the  question  of  whether  Black  Javas  were  a  separate  and  distinct 
variety  of  clean-legged  fowls  or  whether  they  were  in  reality  Black 
Cochins.  As  we  now  examine  the  evidence  it  points  to  the  fact  that 
"Black  Java"  was  a  term  used  to  identify  the  big,  black  plumaged 
fowls  of  Asiatic  origin  which  were  later  generally  known  as  Cochins; 
that  the  term  "Black  Java"  was  interchangeable  with  "Black  Cochin"; 
and  that  the  "Black  Javas"  that  entered  into  the  origin  of  the  Plym- 
outh Rock  are  not  the  Standard  Black  Java  of  today. 

In  the  early  disputations,  Upham  held  that  the  Asiatic  blood 
was  Cochin,  while  H.  S.  Ramsdell  of  Connecticut,  as  stoutly  main- 
tained that  John  Giles  had  introduced  a  Black  Java  breed  into  Con- 
necticut about  1843,  and  that  these  Javas  were  the  forerunner  of  the 
Plymouth  Rock.  On  this  question  of  origin,  F.  H.  Corbin,  in  a  mono- 
graph on  "Plymouth  Rocks,"  published  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  1879, 
says: 

The  theories  advanced  were  various,  and  were  urged  pro  and  con  by  many  of 
the  leading  fanciers  of  the  country.  It  is  a  true  saying,  and  one  well  worthy  of 
acceptance,  that  all  men  like  to  father  a  success  and  disown  a  failure.  It  proved  to 
he  true  indeed  in  this  case,  for  while  little  was  heard  or  written  in  regard  to  them 
previous  to  their  being  exhibited  in  1869,  and  while,  in  fact,  for  some  years  after- 
wards, they  were  but  little  known  except  to  a  few  prominent  breeders,  and  found 
only  in  their  yards,  no  sooner  was  it  generally  understood  that  the  most  successful 
cross  of  the  century  had  been  made,  and  that  its  characteristics  had  been  suffi- 
ciently fixed  to  allow  its  being  admitted  into  the  Standard  as  a  fixed  and  permanent 
breed,  than  numbers  of  articles  from  fanciers  of  well  known  ability  began  to  appear 
in  poultry  papers  and  journals  in  regard  to  them.  Most  of  these  writers  wielded 
a  trenchant  pen,  and,  for  a  time,  the  fate  of  the  subject  matter  seemed  in  doubt. 
The  fact  that  there  were  apparently  several  different  origins  only  confounded  the 
discussion  and  added  fuel  to  the  flames. 

The  Upham-Ramsdell  controversy  was  conducted  with  both  vigor  and  bitterness. 
The  conceded  ability  of  these  gentlemen,  together  with  their  readiness  of  pen,  only 
magnified  the  contest,  diffused  a  knowledge  of  the  question  among  the  poultry 
fraternity  and  caused  others  to  take  up  the  pen,  both  as  principals  and  advocates. 
After  a  time,  it  began  to  be  uncertain  whether  any  such  breed  ever  existed  and 
if  there  was  any,  where  or  from  whence  it  sprang. 

Another  question  intensified  the  controversy.  While  all  were  agreed  as  to  the 
Plymouth  Rock  being  a  "cross-breed,"  scarcely  any  two  were  agreed  as  to  what 
the  cross  was.  The  Black  Java,  Cochin,  Dominique,  dunghill,  Gray  Chittagongs, 
and  English  Gray  Dorkings,  were  all  named  as  entering  into  the  cross. 

In  the  agitation  of  contrary  opinions,  a  "regular  battle  of  rocks" 
raged  in  New  England  between  1872  and  1875,  and  as  the  fight  began 


108  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

to  wane,  the  editor  of  Poultry  World,  Hartford,  Conn.,  issue  of 
March,  1876,  commented  on  the  controversial  situation  in  the  fol- 
lowing words: 

When  the  smdke  has  cleared  away  it  will  be  found  that  this  breed  (Plymouth 
Rocks),  has  had  several  independent  origins.  As  oil  and  potash  may  be  united  and 
soap  made  anywhere,  so  hawk-colored  barn-yard  fowls  may  be  amalgamated  with 
some  Asiatic  variety  in  any  state  in  the  Union  and  Plymouth  Rocks  formed. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Drake  of  Stoughton,  Mass.,  has  a  strain  of  Plymouth  Rocks  whicli 
lie  has  bred  for  nineteen  years,  which  has  not  a  drop  of  the  Spaulding  blood,  nor 
the  slightest  admixture  from  any  other  strain.  We  have  word  from  a  Pennsylvania 
correspondent  that  on  farms  in  Bucks  county,  that  state,  fowls  have  been  found 
almost  from  time  immemorial,  that  were  identical  with  Plymouth  Rocks,  and  were 
produced,  incidentally,  by  the  introduction  of  Asiatic  blood  into  the  common  hawk- 
colored  stock  of  the  county.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  upon  many  farms  in 
all  parts  of  the  land,  twenty,  fifty,  or  one  hundred  years  ago,  hawlk-colored  fowls 
were  numerous  and  common.  The  modern  Dominique  fowl  is  nothing  more  or  less 
than  a  hawk-colored  dunghill  bird,  improved  by  cultivation.  For  that  matter  the 
Leghorn  is  a  genuine  Italian  dunghill  fowl,  improved. 

Rev.  D.  D.  Bishop  sums  up  the  whole  question  of  origin  by  stat- 
ing that  it  was  "inevitable"  that  the  Plymouth  Rock  should  make  its 
appearance  about  1866  to  1870.  He  continues: 

The  conditions  were  favorable.  It  was  at  the  time  of  reaction  from  the  furore 
for  simply  big  birds,  when  farmer  folk  were  discussing  among  themselves  the 
failure  of  the  mammoth  Asiatics  to  fill  the  bill  for  both  eggs  and  marketing.  They 
failed  as  foragers  for  want  of  activity.  They  were  the  reverse  of  precocious  in  their 
development.  The  old-fashioned  dunghill  was  too  small.  There  was  equal  dissatis- 
faction with  both. 

The  first  result  was  the  throwing  of  whatever  Asiatic  came  to  hand,  Shanghais, 
Brahmas,  Cochins — what  not — at  random  into  the  barnyard  flocks,  to  mix  indis- 
criminately with  a  lot  of  birds  that  had  suffered  that  kind  of  breeding,  if  that 
could  be  called  breeding,  for  a  generation  or  more. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  was  that  the  more  thoughtful  or  fanciful  began  to 
pick  out  the  colors  that  suited  their  individual  notions.  Various  farmers  had  local 
reputations  for  the  excellence  of  their  white  hens,  or  red  hens,  or  whatever  color 
they  might  have  chosen. 

Perhaps  the  most  widely  diffused  of  what  might  have  been  called  a  native 
stock  was  even  then  known  as  "old-fashioned,  hawk-colored"  fowls.  Their  disper- 
sion over  a  wide  extent  of  country  was  brought  about  by  two  causes.  First,  their 
makings  were  much  more  distinct  and  uniform  than  any  of  the  mixed  colors,  so  that 
by  original  vital  strength  the  color  was  carried  wherever  a  drop  of  the  blood  found 
its  way.  Secondly,  they  proved  to  be  hardy,  matured  rapidly  and  so  came  quickly 
to  usefulness  as  broilers,  egg  producers  or  for  marketing  purposes.  They  were 
not  so  much  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  hawks,  and  farmers  thought  much  of  that. 
The  hawk  could  not  see  them  so  plainly,  and  the  mother  hen  was  almost  as  sharp 
of  eye  as  her  enemy  in  the  air. 

Another  point  should  not  be  overlooked,  namely,  the  facility  which  was  mani- 
fested by  this  stock  to  assimilate  the  dash  of  Asiatic  blood  so  as  to  make  it  a 
genuine  infusion.  In  other  words,  the  cross  by  Asiatics  made  "a  hit"  upon  the 
said  old-fashioned,  hawk-colored  Hrds,  so  that  they  reproduced  themselves,  throw- 
ing comparatively  few  reverts,  and  furnishing  at  once  the  basis  upon  which  to 
build  a  breed. 

Influence  of  the  Dominique  in  transmitting  barring  to  the  breed. 

The  old  cuckoo  colored  Dominique  played  a  dominant  role  in  the 
prigin  of  the  Plymouth  Rock,  All  of  the  crosses  include  the  hawk- 


BARRED    PLYMOUTH   ROCKS 


109 


colored  Dominique  fowl.  This  is  in  line  with  the  now  known  inheri- 
tance of  the  factor  for  barring. 

While  the  barred  bird  is  black  and  white — so  are  the  mottled  bird, 
the  silver-laced  and  the  silver  penciled  primarily  black  and  white;  and 
when  black  and  white  are  crossed  together,  the  plumage  of  the 
progeny  does  not  develop  the  barred  color  pattern  unless  the  birds 
have  inherited  a  factor  for  this  pattern. 

With  the  hawk-colored  fowl  as  an  ancestor  of  the  breed,  the  tend- 
ency to  barring  was  present.  It  is  impossible  to  go  beyond  this  and 


Well  proportioned  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male  with  even,  clear- 
cut,  straight-across  the  feather  barring.  Bred  by  E.  B.  Thompson, 
Amenia,  New  York. 


110  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF  POULTRY 

trace  the  specific  origin  of  this  color  type.  There  is  no  record  as  to 
when  barring  first  appeared  in  domestic  fowl,  or  how  it  came  to  hap- 
pen. While  a  barred  bird  may  today  be  made  by  certain  crosses  of 
whites  and  blacks,  it  is  the  result  of  one  of  the  parent  birds  carrying 
the  barred  pattern  in  hereditary  form  without  it  being  somatically 
visible. 

Unquestionably  the  early  Dominiques  were  largely  of  English 
Dorking  origin,  perhaps  with  some  Scotch  Gray  blood  in  them.  The 
birds  were  very  wide  barred,  the  bars  were  not  straight  nor  the  dark 
bar  a  sharp  contrast  to  the  light  bar.  When  a  male  of  this  color  type 
was  crossed  onto  Black  Cochin  females,  the  result  was  a  number  of 
barred  cockerels,  some  barred  pullets  and  some  black  ones.  The 
black  of  the  Cochin  added  intensity  to  the  color,  and  the  inheritance 
of  pattern  from  the  male  determined  the  position  that  that  color  was 
to  take  up  on  the  feather. 

Barring  comes  lighter  in  the  male  than  in  the  female.  As  years 
have  passed,  and  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  has  been  carefully 
selected  and  bred,  the  factor  for  barring  has  become  fixed.  In  1912. 
Dr.  Raymond  Pearl  wrote:  "Such  a  thing  as  a  completely  non-barred 
bird  appearing  in  any  'pure  strain'  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  no 
longer  occurs  and  has  not  for  a  number  of  years." 

The  tendency  persists,  however,  for  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  males 
to  come  lighter  than  the  females.  This  has  been  attributed  to  the 
early  crosses  in  which  the  male  Dominique  was  crossed  on  Black 
Cochins.  The  biggest  problem  in  the  history  of  the  variety  has  been 
how  to  overcome  this  natural  tendency.  After  the  World's  Fair  in 
Chicago,  1893,  'Sid  Conger  of  Shelbyville,  Ind.,  who  had  been  the 
leading  winner,  discussed  with  his  friend,  B.  N.  Pierce  of  Indian- 
apolis, who  was  the  leading  western  poultry  judge  at  that  time,  how 
to  remake  the  variety  and  produce  a  line  of  Barred  Rocks  that  would 
yield  cockerels  and  pullets  of  the  same  shade  of  color.  Mr.  Pierce 
took  up  the  matter  with  Henry  Turck  of  Middletown,  Ohio,  a  lead- 
ing Black  Java  breeder  of  the  day.  By  this  time,  the  modern  Black 
Java,  with  its  clean  legs,  was  an  established  fact. 

Mr.  Turck,  acting  on  the  suggestion,  made  a  cross  just  opposite 
to  the  original  crosses,  using  a  Black  Java  male  on  a  bare-foot  Light 
Brahma  female.  A  cockerel  and  pullet  of  this  cross  were  then  bred 
together;  and  the  pullets  produced  were  bred  back  to  their  grand- 
sire,  the  original  Black  Java  male.  The  result  was  a  dark  barred  male. 
However,  no  permanent  results  accrued. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  no  matter  how  dark  you  get  a 
Barred  Rock  male,  his  mother  and  sisters  are  darker.  The  male  is 
always  "more  barred"  than  the  female  and  this  strong  dose  of  barring 
takes  the  form  of  wide  open  white  bars.  In  the  female  the  barring  is 
of  less  degree,  almost  down  to  no  space  at  all  in  some  individuals, 
and,  in  the  early  days,  black  pullets  altogether  devoid  of  white  bar- 
ring were  more  or  less  common.  The  greater  barring  of  white  in 


BARRED   PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  111 

the  male  makes  him  appear  the  lighter  of  the  two  sexes  in  color;  and 
the  female,  being  less  barred,  is  more  colored,  more  strongly  pig- 
mented  with  black,  with  the  result  that  her  black  bar  is  wider  than 
the  black  bar  found  in  her  sons  and  brothers.  Examine  a  farmer's 
flock  of  6  to  8-week-old  Plymouth  Rock  chicks  and  you  will  find  that 
the  cockerels  are  infinitely  "more  barred"  than  the  pullets,  and  the 
cockerels  are,  therefore,  cleaner  and  lighter  in  color. 

The  insistent  demand  has  been  for  black  and  white  bars  of  equal 
width  in  both  sexes,  and  in  order  to  produce  cockerels  of  this  kind  it 
has  been  necessary  to  use  dark  females.  The  extent  of  the  black 
bar,  its  color,  is  largely  inherited  from  the  female  parent,  but  the 
pattern  for  barring  is  linked  with  the  male  sex,  making  the  male  the 
more  prepotent  parent  for  the  factor  of  barring;  the  female  for  the 
degree  and  intensity  of  that  black  color  which  is  carried  in  each 
dark  bar. 

First  instructions  on  breeding.  The  early  breeders  soon  learned 
the  breeding  tendency  in  the  variety.  Each  breeder,  whether  a  novice 
or  experienced,  had  been  left  to  his  own  devices,  and  while  many 
ma  tings  resulted  in  failure  to  produce  what  was  wanted,  it  seems 
remarkable  that  as  early  as  1879  so  much  specific  information  should 
have  been  collected  on  mating  for  color.  In  this  year  F.  H.  Corbin 
wrote: 

Five    different    matings   have   been    advocated    and   practiced    as   follows: 
Xo.    1.     A  male  light   in   color    mated    to    dark   females. 
Xo.   2.      A  male  dark   in    color    mated   to   light   females. 
XTo.   3.      A  male  dark    in    color   mated   to    dark   females. 
XTo.   4.      Birds   matching   in   the   show   pen. 

Xo.  5.  A  female  medium  in  color  mated  with  a  male  two  points  or  shades 
lighter  in  color. 

Corbin  preferred  mating  No.  5  as  "the  best  mating  for  breeding 
purposes." 

He  described  mating  No.  2,  which  is  the  reverse  of  No.  5,  as 
"Objectionable,  and  it  should  not  be  practiced,  except  as  a  necessity 
to  utilize  stock,  and  even  then  it  seldom  proves  satisfactory."  The 
beginner  of  today  should  get  the  full  significance  of  this  statement, 
to-wit:  in  breeding  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks,  one  of  the  longest  estab- 
lished and  most  elementary  rules  is  not  to  make  a  mating  in  which 
the  male  is  dark  and  the  females  are  light  in  color. 

Mating  No.  3,  which  consisted  of  a  dark  male  to  dark  females, 
was  described  by  Corbin  as  one  that  "should  never  be  made  use  of." 
He  pointed  out  that  by  this  mating  it  was  impossible  to  produce  any 
number  of  chicks  having  desired  yellow  legs  and  beaks.  "They  will 
invariably  have  legs  either  dark  or  spotted."  Again  his  knowledge 
of  the  inheritance  of  color  in  the  plumage  was  accurate  for  he  spoke 
of  such  a  mating  producing  pullets  that  would  run  very  dark,  while  a 
few  cockerels  could  be  obtained  fit  for  exhibition.  However,  his 
objection  to  cockerels  produced  in  this  way  was  strong,  for  it  necessi- 


112  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

tated  the  making  of  another  mating  to  produce  exhibition  pullets.  On 
this  double  mating  he  wrote:  "the  trouble  and  annoyance  of  being- 
obliged  to  have  two  different  styles  of  mating  is  obvious  to  anyone, 
and  it  utterly  befogs  amateurs." 

Corbin  believed  that  mating  No.  5  was  correct  and  that  it  should 
be  the  same  as  No.  4,  that  is,  No.  4,  which  consisted  of  "birds  match- 
ing in  the  show  pen,"  should  mean  medium  colored  females  matched 
with  a  male  two  shades  lighter  in  color.  He  maintained  that  judges 
should  be  liberal  in  their  construction  of  the  Standard  color  and  allow 
that  latitude  in  shade  of  color  between  the  two  sexes  necessary  for 
breeding  purposes.  However,  he  did  not  recommend  a  light  male 
mated  to  dark  females,  mating  No.  1,  for  although  he  said  that  it 
was  urged  by  many  as  the  proper  one,  it  should  be  resorted  to  only 
in  case  of  necessity. 

Corbin  was  a  single  mater.  He  wanted  the  judges  not  only  to 
recognize  the  medium  colored  female  as  Standard  but  the  male  two 
shades  lighter  which  was  required  to  produce  her.  However,  the 
tendency  persisted  that  exhibition  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  should  be 
of  the  same  shade  of  color. 

In   1880,   H.   H.   Stoddard,   editor  of  the   Poultry  World,  wrote: 

That  the  breed  will  ever  arrive  at  that  stage  where  the  males  will  naturally  be 
produced  as  dark  as  the  females,  we  very  much  doubt.  At  present  and  ever  since 
the  breed  was  known,  the  males  have  run  light  and  the  liens  dark.  Can  the  Plymouth 
Rocks  be  so  changed  by  breeding  as  to  approximate,  and  finally  draw  together? 

Stoddard  then  proceeded  to  outline  a  system  of  breeding  by  defin- 
ing a  mating  to  produce  exhibition  cockerels,  and  another  mating  to 
produce  exhibition  pullets.  He  also  held  to  an  intermediate  mating 
to  produce  both  Standard  cockerels  and  pullets. 

A  new  generation  of  great  breeders  appear  upon  the  scene.  Such 
was  the  state  of  knowledge  when  what  were  to  become  the  greatest 
breeders  of  America,  began  to  take  their  first  interest  in  Barred 
Plymouth  Rocks.  Among  this  illustrious  group  of  breeders  stands  the 
name  of  Edward  B.  Thompson,  Amenia,  New  York,  who,  in  the 
early  days  of  February,  1879,  while  yet  a  schoolboy,  made  his  first 
purchase  from  Virgil  Oilman,  and  began  his  career  as  a  breeder  of 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks.  Seven  years  before  Oilman  had  paid  Drake 
$20  for  a  pair,  and  later,  to  get  away  from  the  Drake  tendency  to 
very  large,  coarse  birds,  had  bought  into  Mark  Pitman's  line  which 
was  producing  more  of  a  medium  type  of  fowl. 

In  1879,  the  year  in  which  Thompson  made  his  start,  A.  C.  Haw- 
kins, proprietor  of  Riverview  Poultry  Yards,  Lancaster,  Mass.,  issued 
his  first  mating  list.  He  listed  one  select  mating  from  which  eggs 
were  offered  at  $5  per  13;  two  matings  at  $3  per  13  eggs;  and  a  fourth 
yard  from  which  eggs  were  quoted  at  $2  per  sitting.  Hawkins  had 
dipped  strongly  into  the  Pitman,  Drake  and  Oilman  strains.  His 
yard  No.  2  was  headed  by  a  cockerel,  "Mark  Pitman  II,  sired  by 


BARRED   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS  113 

Felch's  old  Mark  Pitman,  and  fine  in  every  way."     He  was  mated  to 
"12  nice  hens  and  pullets."     In  describing  his  females,  Hawkins  said: 

I  would  say  that  my  breeding  hens  were  of  the  Drake  and  Oilman  strains,  and 
selected  with  great  care  as  to  their  fine  breeding  qualities.  My  cockerels  have  been 
selected  for  their  clean,  distinct  plumage,  yellow  legs,  low  combs  and  fine  symmetry. 
Will  warrant  them  not  to  show  brassy  plumage. 

In  1883,  A.  C.  Hawkins  won  all  firsts  and  specials  at  the  old  Madi- 
son Square  Garden,  New  York  City;  and  Hawkins'  ad  occupied  the 
entire  back  cover  of  the  April,  1883,  issue  of  American  Poultry  Jour- 
nal. In  this  same  year  E.  B.  Thompson  made  his  hrst  exhibit  at  New 
York,  and  four  years  later,  1887,  won  four  firsts  on  Barred  Plymouth 
Rocks  at  the  old  wooden  Garden  in  New  York  City. 

Later  on  appeared  C.  H.  Welles  of  Stafford,  Conn.,  C.  H.  Latham 
of  Lancaster,  Mass.,  and  Bradley  Bros,  of  Lee,  Mass.  With  Thomp- 
son and  Hawkins,  they  formed  the  great  quintet  of  breeders  who 
occupied  the  center  of  the  stage  for  a  generation.  Other  prominent 
breeders  "arrived,"  particularly  Wm.  Ellery  Bright  of  Waltham, 
Mass.,  and  in  all  America  no  other  men  or  group  of  men  exerted  one 
iota  of  influence  upon  the  variety  in  comparison  with  the  permanent 
advances  made  by  these  great  improvers  of  one  of  the  most  valuable 
races  of  domesticated  animals. 

In  1899,  C.  H.  WTelles  won  the  president's  cup,  value  $100,  also 
the  silver  challenge  trophy  cup,  value  $100,  for  the  best  cock,  hen 
cockerel  and  pullet,  at  the  Garden,  and  the  gold  special  for  the  best 
bird  in  the  show.  His  complete  winnings  were  1-2  cocks;  1-2  hens; 
2-3-4-5  cockerels;  1-2-3  pullets;  1-2-4  pens. 

Bradley  Bros,  who  had  secured  their  start  from  Hawkins,  had 
come  into  prominence  about  1893  by  winning  four  firsts,  four  seconds 
and  three  thirds  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  which  was  the  premier 
I  Jarred  Rock  show  of  America  and  the  battleground  of  every  pre- 
tender to  the  glory  of  a  crown  in  Barred  Rock  paradise. 

C.  H,.  Latham  of  Lancaster,  Mass.,  was  a  wood  engraver  by  pro- 
fession, and,  with  an  eye  for  detail,  took  up  the  breeding  of  Barred 
Plymouth  Rocks  in  the  early  nineties.  He  specialized  in  the  produc- 
tion of  females.  His  line  was  started  with  th-e  1st  prize  pullet  at  the 
Boston  show  of  1898,  a  bird  that  Latham  had  bred.  This  female  was 
the  mother  of  his  strain,  and  with  her  line  of  blood,  more  or  less 
reinforced  as  time  went  on,  Latham  went  down  the  years,  improving 
the  quality  of  his  stock  as  the  years  passed,  and  winning  1st  hen 
Philadelphia,  1900;  1st  pullet,  Philadelphia,  1901;  1st  pullet,  Boston, 
1902;  1st  pullet,  Madison  Square,  1903;  1st  hen  and  1st  pullet,  Madison 
Square  Garden,  1905;  1st  pullet,  Madison  Square,  1906;  1st  hen,  Bos- 
ton, 1907;  1st  pullet,  Madison  Square  Garden,  1908;  1st  hen  and  1st 
pullet,  Boston,  1908;  1st  hen  and  1st  pullet,  Boston,  1909;  1st  hen  and 
1st  pullet,  Boston,  1910;  1st  hen,  Madison  Square  Garden,  1910;  1st 
pullet,  Madison  Square  Garden,  1911;  1st  pullet,  Madison  Square 
Garden,  December,  1913,  and  on  the  same  pullet  1st  at  Boston.  Janu- 


114  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

ary,  1914.  Such  continuous  victories  made  the  Latham  female  line 
the  most  sensational  in  America  and  it  was  looked  upon  by  many 
breeders  as  the  most  valuable  one  into  which  to  purchase. 

Persistent  and  close  study  made  master  breeders  and  the  popu- 
larity of  the  variety  resulted  in  national  reputations.  No  breed  of 
fowl  in  the  history  of  the  world  ever  had  as  much  thorough  and  hard 
work  spent  upon  it  as  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock.  No  prizes  in  the 
history  of  purebred  poultry  were  ever  as  hotly  contended  for  as  the 
prizes  in  the  Barred  Rock  class  at  the  annual  exhibition  of  the  New 
York  Poultry  Association  held  in  Madison  Square  Garden.  To  win 
at  New  York  was  the  height  of  the  Barred  Rock  breeder's  ambition. 
The  fact,  however,  that  certain  of  the  leading  New  England  breeders 
would  show  one  year,  and  stay  out  the  next,  gave  rise  to  an  impres- 
sion throughout  the  West  that  there  was  some  form  of  collusion 
among  these  breeders  and  by  pre-arrangement  the  entries  at  New 
York  were  restricted  to  some  one  or  two  breeders  who  would  show 
all  the  good  birds  that  the  entire  group  had  been  able  to  produce 
during  the  year. 

This  impression,  however,  was  dispelled  at  the  New  York  show  of 
December,  1907,  when  four  of  the  giants  of  the  Barred  Rock  fancy 
met  in  competition.  Thompson,  Latham  and  Welles  were  there;  also 
Grove  Hill  Poultry  Farm  of  Waltham,  Mass.,  owned  by  Wm.  Ellery 
Bright  and  under  the  management  of  Arthur  C.  Smith. 

Being  a  December  show  and  coming  the  week  before  Christmas, 
the  attendance  at  this  Garden  show  was  small.  The  wreather  was 
broken;  some  days  good,  and  then,  again,  rainy.  The  classes  of  all 
varieties  were  well  filled,  and  considering  the  time  of  year,  the  birds 
were  well  finished  and  in  good  show  condition. 

No  display  in  any  breed  was  of  as  much  importance  or  attracted 
as  much  attention  as  that  of  the  Barred  Rocks.  While  the  New  York 
show  is  reputed  to  be  a  show  of  masters  of  the  breeder's  art  in  which 
each  presents  for  inspection  and  approval  of  the  judge  and  interested 
public,  only  his  most  brilliant  stars,  the  strongest  of  the  strong  lined 
up  for  battle  in  the  Barred  Rock  aisle.  Four  hundred  and  eighteen 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  were  cooped.  Henry  P.  Schwab  officiating 
as  judge,  placed  the  ribbons,  and  exceedingly  careful  he  was. 

In  cocks,  first  honor  went  to  E.  B.  Thompson,  and  again  1st  place 
on  cockerel  went  to  Thompson.  At  the  time  we  wrote: 

This  winning  cockerel  was  a  wonderful  bird ;  his  type  could  hardly  be  improved 
and  his  barring  was  truly  "Ringlet,"  while  his  color  was  as  clean  and  clear  cut  on 
his  back  and  tail  as  on  his  breast.  He  stood  up  straight  and  strong  in  his  coop, 
and  was  shown  in  the  pink  of  condition.  Other  than  the  blue  ribbon  there  was  a 
sign  on  his  coop  like  this:  "King  of  the  Garden,  Worth  His  Weight  in  Solid  Gold." 
But  this  was  not  the  only  sign.  C.  H.  Welles  put  up  a  card  on  the  coop 
of  his  first  prize  hen:  "The  Queen  of  the  Garden.  Worth  her  weight  in  diamonds." 
The  joy  of  winning  is  great  and  Mr.  Welles  in  his  enthusiasm  tied  up  the  second 
sign:  "Fluffy  Ruffles.  Ten  years  ahead  of  the  times." 

But  Mr.  Welles'  signs  were  only  suggestive.  He  could  say  nothing  that  would 
describe  the  worth  of  his  hen  to  a  breeder  of  the  strain,  nor  could  he  express  his 


BARRED  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  115 

satisfaction  in  having  produced  her.  She  was  the  most  remarkable  Barred  Rock 
hen  we  have  ever  seen ;  there  is  no  excess  from  which  we  would  deduct ;  there  is 
nothing  we  would  add  to  make  her  more  complete;  she  stands  in  a  class  by  herself, 
"Ten  Years  Ahead  of  the  Times." 

"Worth  his  weight  in  radium,"  we  read  from  the  coop  of  an  unfinished  cockerel, 
but  one  of  the  most  promising  in  the  class.  He  was  a  dark  and  very  clean-cut 
bird  and  was  shown  by  the  genial  M.  S.  Gardner.  Indeed,  the  birds  Mr.  Schwab 
preferred  were  dark  in  color,  bordering  on  black  and  white,  and  this  in  both 
sexes.  The  day  of  light  pullet  breeding  males  is  gone  in  the  east,  and  western 
breeders  that  continue  to  head  their  pullet  yards  with  exceedingly  light  males  will 
find  their  pullets  further  and  further  from  the  desired  color  as  the  eastern  style 
goes  west,  and  go  it  will,  for  it  is  the  east  that  sets  the  styles  in  fancy  poultry. 
That  which  wins  at  New  York  is  studied  by  judges  and  inquired  into  by  the  pro- 
gressive breeders  of  the  west  and  north  and  south. 

Another  sign,  "First  Attempt,"  was  placed  on  the  cage  of  the  fourth  prize 
pullet.  We  looked  in  our  catalog  to  see  to  whom  this  bird  belonged  and  it  made 
us  glad  to  read,  George  W.  Hillson,  Amenia,  New  York.  Air.  Hillson  having 
resigned  his  position  of  poultryman  for  E.  B.  Thompson,  has  gone  into  the  breed- 
ing of  Barred  Plymouth  Rodks  for  himself.  He  came  down  to  the  Garden,  the 
first  year,  and  had  this  pullet  placed.  That  is  enough.  To  win  is  the  desire  of 
every  breeder,  but  to  win  at  New  York  is  the  height  of  the  showman's  ambition — it 
is  an  ultra  smart  distinction. 

There  was  one  other  sign  in  the  Barred  Rock  alley:  "Cackling  Giglay's.  Worth 
her  weight  in  smiles,  sunbeams  and  egg  orders."  It  was  tied  on  the  1st  prize 
pullet  coop,  and  the  bird  was  shown  by  C.  H.  Latham. 

There  were  37  exhibition  yards  of  Barred  Rocks.  1st  on  pen  went  to  Grove 
Hill. 

Improvement  in  Barred  Rocks.  The  Garden  show  of  1907  was 
epoch-making  in  Barred  Rock  history.  Writing  of  the  fine  quality 
there  shown  and  of  the  rapid  and  encouraging  changes  that  had  been 
made  to  date,  M.  S.  Gardner  said: 

No  breeder  who  visited  the  recent  Madison  Square  Garden  show  and  saw  the 
wonderful  exhibit  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  there  will  contradict  me,  I  am  sure, 
when  I  say  that  no  other  breed  or  variety  has  shown  greater  improvement  in  the 
last  ten  years.  The  average  quality  at  New  York  was  marvelous.  The  eight  winning 
birls  could  have  been  taken  from  each  class  and  removed  from  the  Garden,  and 
there  would  have  remained  a  collection  equal  to  any  ever  seen  before  in  any  show 
room  in  the  east.  A  prominent  New  England  breeder  had  in  his  possession  some 
feathers  taken  from  a  first  prize  male  at  Madison  Square — I  think  in  1896.  A  com- 
parison of  these  feathers  with  those  of  the  winning  birds  at  New  York  this  winter 
is  interesting.  The  feathers  from  the  1896  winner  show  brdken  bars,  irregular 
spacing,  poor  undercolor  and  smutty  surface.  Yet  the  bird  from  which  they  were 
taken  was  considered  a  wonderful  good  one  ten  years  ago.  A  bird  of  that  quality 
could  not  now  win  a  20th  place  at  New  York.  Ten  to  fifteen  years  ago  the  females 
of  this  variety,  even  in  the  best  shows,  were  very  coarse  in  barring,  and  showed  but 
little  of  that  ringy  effect,  now  so  noticeable  in  the  winning  birds.  In  the  male 
birds,  the  hackles  were  very  irregular  and  poor;  now  the  best  males  show  hackles 
that  are  beautiful  in  the  extreme — so  ringy  and  clear  cut  is  the  surface  and  so  regu- 
lar and  straight  the  under-barring.  To  one  who  knows  how  hard  it  is  to  produce 
birds  of  a  parti-colored  variety,  this  great  improvement  tells  of  the  amount  of  hard, 
painstaking  work  done  by  the  breeders  who  have  contributed  most  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Barred  Rock. 

However,  there  were  still  improvements  to  be  made,  and  E.  B. 
Thompson,  with  his  face  set  to  the  future — never  satisfied,  always 
aspiring — pointed  out  this  fact  in  the  following  words: 

However,    these    present-day    winners    fascinate    and    are    admired    no    more    than 


116  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

the  fanciers  of  twenty  years  ago  admired  the  winners  of  that  time.  Every  period 
has  its  limit  of  perfection  for  that  period,  but  energy  and  ambition  always  declare 
there  shall  be  improvement.  The  Standard  of  Perfection  must  from  time  to  time 
be  subject  to  change  along  with  the  growth  of  our  ideas  of  the  beautiful  and  our 
ability  to  reproduce  these  ideas  in  the  living  bird.  Barred  Rocks  can  be  brought 
by  fine  graduations  to  a  feather  that  will  make  the  present-day  winners  no  more 
to  l)e  compared  with  those  of  ten  years  hence  than  the  tidal  wave  of  Mount  Pelee 
to  a  ripple  against  the  Statue  of  Liberty  in  New  Yorfc  harbor. 

The  following  year  at  the  New  York  show  of  Dec.  29,  1908,  to 
Jan.  2,  1909,  the  battle  broke  anew,  and  the  thunder  of  the  giants' 
cannon  planted  along  the  Barred  Rock  trench  in  the  vast  arena  re- 
sounded not  only  within  the  walls  of  the  historic  Garden,  but  was 
heard  by  breeders  of  all  varieties  of  Standardbred  poultry  throughout 
America.  The  attention  of  every  breeder  was  focused  upon  New 
York.  This  year  Thompson,  Bradley,  Welles,  Hawkins,  Grove  Hill 
and  Gardner  came  into  combat.  There  was  a  score  of  lesser  lights 
hoping  for  even  a  minor  prize  in  the  hotly  contested  classes.  When 
the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  away  it  was  found  that  Judge  Schwab 
had  given  1st  cock  to  Grove  Hill;  2d  cock,  2d  cockerel  and  1st  pen 
to  Thompson.  Welles  won  1st  on  the  same  hen,  "Fluffy  Ruffles," 
which  had  carried  him  to  victory  the  year  before.  She  was  not  in  such 
good  condition  this  year,  but  was  still  the  wonder  of  the  hen  class. 
Gardner  won  1st  pullet,  Hawkins  won  1st  cockerel,  and  Bradley  had 
to  leave  the  field  with  2d  pen  and  several  lower  prizes.  While  Thomp- 
son did  not  win  either  1st  place  on  cock  or  1st  on  cockerel,  he  empha- 
sized the  value  of  his  birds  by  going  out  of  the  Garden,  buying  log 
chains  and  padlocks,  coming  back  and  fastening  his  cages  with  them, 
and  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  Thompson's  estimate  of  the  value  of 
his  male  line  was  amply  justified. 

Constructive  breeding  of  the  big  five.  Of  the  five  great  breeders. 
Hawkins,  Bradley,  Latham,  Welles  and  Thompson,  it  can  be  said 
that  each  had  his  own  strain,  and  each  had  his  own  following  among 
the  buyers  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  who  fancied  certain  established 
qualities  that  were  characteristic  of  the  strain  into  which  they  bought 
winners  or  new  blood  to  reinforce  their  own  flocks. 

At  this  time  we  can  look  backward  and  see  more  clearly  in  a  review 
of  the  past,  the  aims,  the  opinions,  the  influences  of  these  masters  of 
the  Barred  Rock  fancy,  than  was  possible  when  the  day  and  hour 
brought  us  close  to  the  details  and  the  struggles  of  their  work. 

Influence  of  Hawkins.  The  business  of  Hawkins  was  perhaps  the 
largest  over  a  longer  series  of  years  than  any  other  poultryman  of 
his  day.  In  the  twenty  years,  from  the  early  eighties  up  into  the 
dawn  of  the  twentieth  century.  Hawkins  probably  sold  a  quarter  of 
a  million  dollars  worth  of  stock  and  eggs  for  hatching.  Considering 
the  fact  that  the  best  eggs  sold  for  five  dollars  a  sitting  in  those  days, 
and  poultry  papers,  which  are  the  breeders  medium  for  reaching 
buyers,  had  only  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  the  circulation  that  is  held 
by  the  leading  publications  today.  Hawkins'  success  was  phenomenal 
— and  he  was  pointed  to  as  the  big  man  in  Standardbred  poultry. 


BARRED   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


117 


Hawkins  wanted  a  bunch  of  Barred  Rock  cockerels  to  look  good  in 
the  field.  He  did  not  want  a  bird  that  handled  according  to  rule 
that  did  not  look  good  in  the  open,  as  he  stood  on  the  ground.  One 
time,  as  we  stood  back  of  his  barn,  in  the  creek  fiat  along  the  Nassau 
River,  with  a  bunch  of  well  grown  Barred  Rock  cockerels  called  up 
for  our  inspection,  Hawkins  said:  "I  do  not  say:  Do  they  handle  well.'' 
I  say:  Do  they  look  good?  1  would  not  give  $5  for  a  bird  that  did  not 
look  good  on  the  run." 

After  all  what  you  see  when  you  look  at  a  chicken  is  90  percent. 
When  you  take  the  bird  into  your  hands  you  may  find  bad  under- 
color, a  crooked  breast  or  stubs,  but  if  these  points  were  perfect  and 
the  bird  was  not  a  real  chicken  when  he  stood  on  his  feet  in  the 
coop,  he  would  not  be  worth  a  fig. 


Feathers    from    the    wing    bow    of    an    exhibition    Barred    Plymouth 
Rock    pullet,    owned    by    E.    B.    Thompson. 

In  other  words,  what  you  find  by  digging  into  a  bird  is  only  10 
percent,  enough  to  spoil  an  otherwise  good  bird,  but  not  in  itself 
sufficient  to  make  a  good  specimen.  Give  us  perfect  undercolor,  a 
perfectly  straight  breastbone  and  perfectly  clean  shanks  and  we 
haven't  anything.  We  must  first  have  the  90  percent  which  includes 
size,  typical  shape  and  surface  color — the  features  you  see  when  you 
look  at  a  bird.  Then  add  the  perfect  undercolor,  the  perfectly  straight 
breast,  perfectly  clean  shanks,  and  other  points  which  you  find  by 
digging  in,  and  we  have  a  truly  wonderful  specimen. 

Hawkins  put  this  philosophy  into  practice,  and  the  result  was  a 
well  feathered,  well  balanced  type  of  Barred  Rock  males  in  Haw- 


118 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


kins'  yards;  and  the  surface  color  was  clean  and  pretty.  He  called 
his  strain  the  "Royal  Blue  Barred  Rocks."  In  justifying  his  type 
of  bird,  he  wrote: 

Many  of  the  judges  have  become  so  thoroughly  carried  away  with  the  under- 
barring  that  they  pay  little  attention  to  the  beauty  of  the  surface  color.  They  begin 
to  score  from  the  skin  and  cut  more  severely  for  lack  of  undercolor  than  for  an 
inferior  surface.  The  beauty  of  a  fowl  is  what  we  see,  and  while  I  am  a  believer 
in  distinct,  even  barring  under  the  surface,  I  do  not  want  the  bars  so  strong  and 
heavy  underneath  that  they  destroy  the  beautiful  blue  on  the  surface,  and  it  Is  a 
fact  that  most  of  the  specimens  that  are  very  strong  in  under-color  have  a  muddy 
black  bar  on  the  surface. 

Now,  breeders,  which  will  you  have?  What  I  want,  and  what  any  real  fancier 
wants,  is  perfection  in  surface  color  and  all  the  under-barring  that  nature  will  sup- 
ply with  it,  and  not  what  some  judges  I  know  require,  namely,  perfection  in  under 
barring  and  as  good  surface  as  we  can  get  with  it. 


Feathers   from   the   neck   of   an    exhibition    Barred   Plymouth    Rock 
pullet,   owned   by  E.    B.   Thompson. 

Bradley  Bros.'  intense  barring.  Victor  Bradley  of  Bradley  Bros, 
bred  an  intense  color  in  his  male  line.  The  barring  was  narrow,  there 
were  many  bars  to  a  feather,  and  the  barring  was  heavy  down  through 
the  undercolor,  clear  to  the  ^skin.  With  narrow  barring  came  a  long, 
narrow  feather  with  which* was  associated  slower  feathering.  This 
slower  feathering  resulted  in  cockerels  that  did  not  feather  early  but 
remained  naked  until  their  wings  and  hips  were  sunburned,  and  cock 
birds  that  were  not  through  the  molt  until  mid-winter,  and  it  was 
an  objectionable  feature. 


BARRED  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  119 

Nevertheless  the  Bradley  male  line  was  very  popular.  Because 
of  the  intensity  and  strength  of  its  dark,  narrow,  clear-to-the-skin 
barring,  the  average  breeder  could  buy  and  use  a  Bradley  bird  to 
great  advantage.  These  rich  blood  lines  were  always  to  be  counted 
upon  to  strengthen  the  barring  of  any  average  breeder's  flock  and  the 
effect  lasted  and  did  not  run  out  for  several  generations.  The  well 
known  integrity  of  Victor  Bradley  and  the  strength  of  his  male  line, 
gave  him  a  tremendous  hold  on  the  Barred  Rock  business.  M.  S. 
Gardner  was  an  advocate  of  the  Bradley  line,  as  were  other  leading 
breeders  and  judges  throughout  the  country. 

Latham's  pullet  line.  Latham  specialized  in  females;  and  like  the 
others  of  this  illustrious  group  of  Barred  Rock  specialists,  he  was  a 
breeder  of  his  birds.  It  was  some  years  before  he  got  his  blood  lines 
to  producing,  and  during  this  time  it  is  related  that  some  of  his  com- 
petitors joshed  him  by  asking:  "Charlie,  wThy  don't  you  buy  a  bird  to 
win."  However,  the  workman  plodded  on,  he  served  his  apprentice- 
ship amid  the  laughs  and  free  advice  of  the  journeymen  of  the  day 
and  at  last  at  Boston,  1898,  won  1st  on  a  pullet  that  became  the  mother 
of  a  line  of  winning  females  that  lifted  their  breeder  to  the  forefront 
for  a  span  of  fifteen  years. 

Latham  specialized  in  the  production  of  females,  breeding  them, 
as  other  breeders  of  this  enlightened  period,  by  the  double  mating 
system,  a  system  that  included  the  breeding  of  a  light  male  to  exhibi- 
tion colored  females  to  produce  good  females.  This  was  called  the 
"pullet  line"  and  birds  so  bred  was  called  "pulletbred."  The  best 
cockerels  of  same  period,  as  at  the  present  time,  were  being  produced 
by  mating  an  exhibition  colored  cockerel  to  narrow-barred  hens 
whose  dark  bar  was  so  heavy  that  it  showed  metallic  sheen.  This 
system  of  running  two  separate  lines,  one  to  produce  Standard  colored 
females  and  the  other  to  produce  Standard  colored  males,  was  double 
mating. 

Latham  did  not  bother  with  the  cockerel  line,  devoting  all  his 
energies  to  the  pullet  line.  He  grew  twice  as  many  of  this  one  line 
as  though  he  had  been  handling  both  the  cockerel  and  pullet  lines. 
His  thought  was  not  divided,  but  his  business  was,  for  he  had  none 
of  the  cockerel  line  to  sell.  Moreover,  Latham's  ambition,  like  his 
trustworthiness,  was  beyond  the  dollar.  He  was  an  intelligent,  deep- 
thinking,  earnest,  enthusiastic  breeder.  Although  his  business  was 
limited  to  the  female  side  of  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  breed,  and 
he  had  an  invalid  wife  and  no  source  of  income  other  than  his  poultry 
business,  he  declined  to  sell  eggs  for  hatching  one  year,  giving  as  his 
reason  that  when  he  sold  eggs  he  had  to  enlarge  his  matings,  and 
that  he  thought  he  could  breed  better  birds  by  limiting  his  matings 
to  only  his  finest  females.  Many  a  breeder  would  have  taken  his  best 
females,  put  them  in  a  separate  pen  and  reserved  their  eggs  for  his 
own  hatching,  while  he  sold  from  the  remaining  flock.  But  Latham 
was  too  earnest,  too  conservative,  too  high-spirited  for  that. 


120  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

He  had  set  his  mind  and  his  heart  on  breeding  a  feather  in  which 
the  black  bar  was  soft  black  and  the  white  bar  was  white,  and  in 
which  the  black  bar  cut  off  sharply  and  did  not  fade  to  gray  before 
the  white  bar  was  laid  on.  This  is  a  vital  consideration  in  a  Barred 
Rock  feather  today.  In  Latham's  words,  which  are  as  vital  today 
as  when  he  penned  them: 

We  must  have  contrast  between  the  two  colors  of  the  bird — a  wide  difference 
between  the  colors.  The  edges  of  each  bar  must  end  abruptly  and  the  contrasting 
color  begin  sharply,  not  softening  or  blending  one  into  the  other. 

Latham  took  up  the  Barred  Rock  when  the  barring  was  weak,  the 
dark  bar  was  blue  black  and  the  light  bar  was  grayish  white.  The 
barring  was  wide,  making  the  white  bar  wide;  and  as  summer  advanced 
the  females  presented  a  faded-brown  appearance,  and  the  pullet  breed- 
ing males  looked  washy.  He  put  more  bars  on  the  feather,  got  them 
straighter,  and  by  widening  the  dark  bar,  got  the  bars  of  nearer  equal 
width;  he  improved  the  distinctiveness  of  the  bars  and  brought  the 
color  of  each  bar  into  itself. 

He  did  not  breed  a  big  type  of  female,  and  the  old  defect,  "broken- 
down  behind,"  due  to  the  females  of  the  variety  laying  on  too  rriuch 
fat  around  the  intestines  in  their  abdomen,  became  absent  in  his 
strain. 

The  work  and  success  of  Welles.  Welles  carried  on  his  breeding 
operations  in  a  more  limited  way  than  any  one  of  the  big  five.  It 
was  always  a  disadvantage  under  which  Welles  worked,  for  in  selling 
his  trade,  he  often  sold  himself  short,  and  the  sudden  sickness  or  acci- 
dental death  of  a  bird  would  occasionally  cripple  a  year's  hatching 
and  rearing  operations. 

While  Welles  was  prominent  in  the  variety  and  formidable  as  a 
competitor,  his  greatest  stroke  was  in  producing  "Fluffy  Ruffles,"  the 
famous  1st  prize  hen  at  the  New  York  show  of  December,  1907. 

Welles  was  a  careful  breeder.  After  he  produced  old  Fluffy,  he 
began  to  use  her,  and  wrote  of  his  plans  as  follows: 

I  have  her  with  a  large,  fine  blue-barred  cockerel  and  will  at  the  end  of  the 
season  have  about  fifty  chicks  from  her.  She  is  a  wonde'rful  hen,  and  I  do  not 
expect  many  as  good  as  she  and  I  may  not  get  any  quite  as  good,  but  I  will  get 
tome  good  ones.  Next  season  this  blood  will  be  diffused  throughout  my  whole 
flock,  where  it  will  work  to  advantage,  and  as  it  is  all  the  same  family,  good  results 
are  bound  to  come. 

The  great  popularity  of  this  line  of  breeding  can  be  at  once  under- 
stood when  it  is  stated  that  that  old  breeder  of  champions,  A.  C.  Haw- 
kins, began  to  advertise  in  his  catalog  "Fluffy  Ruffles"  blood. 

This  famous  hen  was  of  fair  type  and  good  size,  but  most  of  all 
she  was  the  proud  possessor  of  exceptional  barring  and  color.  She 
had  a  rich,  velvety,  very  clean,  dark  bar,  somewhat  wider  in  propor- 
tion than  the  light  bar;  and  this  light  bar  was  very  clean,  approach- 
ing v/hite.  Withal  the  bird  was  darker,  somewhat  larger,  and  had 
heavier  bone  in  her  shanks  than  the  general  run  of  strictly  pulletbred 


BARRED  PLYMOUTH  'ROCKS 


121 


Barred  Rock  females,  and  strongly  suggested  the  presence  of  cockerel 
blood  in  her  veins. 

"Fluffy  Ruffles"  was  the  climax.  With  this  strong,  intense  colored 
female  winning  at  New  York,  the  day  was  now  gone  for  the  old, 
wide-barred,  bluish  pulletbred  hens  and  pullets.  In  1900,  Latham  had 
crossed  cockerelbred  blood  in  his  Boston  hen  line,  and  had  won  for 
himself  the  distinction  of  being  "the  man  who  had  put  color  into 
the  exhibition  Barred  Rock  females."  Welles  now  clinched  the  argu- 
ment of  stronger  color.  For  several  years  after  "Fluffy  Ruffles"  made 


Feathers  from  the  back  of  a  male  used  in  the  breeding  of  exhi- 
bition females.  Such  a  male  is  termed  "pullet-bred."  The  male 
from  which  these  feathers  were  plucked  is  owned  by  W.  D.  Holter- 
man,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 

her  debut  at  New  York,  Judge  Schwab  continued  to  give  the  prefer- 
ence to  the  darker  females;  and  in  1910  and  1911,  Riley  won  1st  hen 
at  New  York  on  very  strong  colored  birds. 

Thompson  as  a  master  breeder.  E.  B.  Thompson,  with  the  greater 
resources,  and  a  better  organization  in  his  son,  Valentine,  and  nepnew, 
John,  to  carry  on  the  breeding  business,  at  last  outdistanced  all  com- 
petitors. From  1887  down  to  the  present  time,  his  "Imperial  Ring- 
lets" have  won  largely  at  the  Garden  shows.  It  probably  is  with- 
out precedent  in  any  breed  or  variety  of  livestock  for  one  breeder  to 


122 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


have  won   so   continuously   over   so  long  a   period  at  a  pie-eminent 
American  show. 

Thompson's  greatest  achievement  in  breeding  has  been  in  produc- 
ing straight-across-the-feather  barring.  This  straightness  of  barring 
results  in  the  bars  on  the  individual  feathers  linking  up  with  one 
another  and  producing  rings  around  the  birds.  The  result  is  the  ring- 
let effect  which  is  characteristic  of  his  strain  and  makes  them  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  name  "Ringlets."  And,  in  getting  straight  bars,  he 
has  been  equally  successful  in  producing  light  and  dark  bars  of  equal 
width.  Added  to  straight,  evenly  spaced  barring,  he  has  a  bright, 
clean  surface  color  and  an  underbarring  that  is  consistent  with  this 
surface  color.  If  the  beginner  will  study  this  one  paragraph,  he  will 


Feathers   from    an   exhibition    Barred   Plymouth   Rock,   owned   by 
W.    D.    Holterman,    Fort  Wayne,    Ind. 

acquire   the    fundamentals   of   a   liberal   knowledge   of   correct   Barred 
Plymouth  Rock  color. 

The  Thompson  business  of  selling  high-grade  Barred  Plymouth 
Rock  fowls  and  eggs  for  hatching  has  been  built  up  from  a  small 
beginning.  The  visitor  to  th'e  farm  today  may  sit  in  the  palatial 
residence  and  look  across  the  valley  to  the  hills  on  yonder  side.  Back 
in  those  hills  was  the  first  Thompson  farm,  and  it  was  from  there, 
in  the  early  eighties,  that  this  breeder  shipped  his  first  pair  of  Barred 
Plymouth  Rocks  to  the  New  York  show.  He  didn't  have  money 
enough  to  go  down  himself,  and  the  pair  of  birds  were  lost  and  never 
got  back  home.  In  the  light  of  present-day  quality,  they  were  not 
worth  returning  home. 


BARRED  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  123 

History  of  the  Thompson  pullet  line.  Latham  and  Welles  were 
both  great  pullet  breeders.  Charles  Welles'  famous  hen  "Fluffy  Ruf- 
fles" won  at  the  Garden  in  1907,  and  she  was  dark  and  strong-colored. 
Charles  Latham's  females  excelled  in  cleanness  of  the  white  bar, 
sharpness  with  which  the  dark  bar  was  denned  and  the  decisiveness 
with  which  the  dark  bar  left  off  and  the  white  bar  began.  These 
two  breeders  held  sway  until  Edward  B.  Thompson  started  in  to 
breed  females  in  earnest,  when  he  outdistanced  both  of  them. 

Now,  all  these  breeders  agree  that  the  dark  line  has  influenced  the 
light  line.  Why  not  be  frank  about  this  thing?  What  breeder  hasn't 
admired  the  beauty  of  a  cockerelbred  pullet;  what  breeder  of  any 
variety  but  what  has  learned  that  color  works  out  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  you  get  what  you  want  on  its  way  out?  Surely  every 
breeder  knows  the  value  of  excess  color.  It  is,  therefore,  not  damag- 
ing to  say  that  Thompson's  female  line  dates  back  to  the  cockerel 
line.  The  result  is  an  entire  flock  containing  hundreds  of  representa- 
tives of  double  mated  Barred  Rocks  that  for  evenness  of  color,  simi- 
larity in  character  of  barring  and  blending  of  the  whole  flock,  is  unsur- 
passed. 

In  females  we  find  the  blood  of  one  female  running  through  the 
flock.  Some  may  call  this  inbreeding,  and  that  is  right,  but  you  will 
find  more  of  her  blood  in  some  families  of  E.  B.  Thompson's  pullet 
line  than  in  some  of  his  other  families.  The  birds  are  not  closely 
inbred.  But,  if  they  were  totally  unrelated,  the  Ringlets  would  not 
represent  a  strain  of  Barred  Rocks  and  no  buyer  in  the  flock  would 
have  any  assurance  of  the  blood  nicking  and  producing  quality  equal 
to  the  purchased  stock.  Linebreeding  is  the  proper  term  to  apply  to 
this  kind  of  constructive  flock  building.  "Linebred"  means  that  the 
individual  so  bred  traces  back  in  a  direct  line  to  famous  sires  and 
dams. 

History  of  the  Thompson  cockerel  line.  The  history  of  E.  B. 
Thompson's  bright,  clean-colored  male  line  will  be  of  interest  to 
breeders,  for  this  line  has  influenced  the  ideals  of  breeders  and  judges 
of  the  east,  west,  north  and  south,  and  made  it  impossible  for  any- 
one anywhere  to  sell  for  a  long  price  anything  other  than  a  straight 
barred,  clean  barred,  bright  clear  colored  bird.  Even  in  England  the 
old  color-type  "black  as  a  derby  hat"  has  gone,  and  in  its  place  we 
find  the  winning  hen  at  the  Royal  show  (Agricultural  Society's  Show, 
1919)  possessing  a  straight  dark  bar  and  a  clean  white  bar. 

The  pedigree  of  the  present  Thompson  male  line  of  Barred  Rocks 
run  back  through  two  principal  arteries  of  blood.  Both  of  these  tribu- 
taries of  the  present  stream  may  be  traced,  but  we  shall  go  back  only 
as  far  as  the  water  is  deep.  In  December,  1907,  Mr.  Thompson  showed 
a  cockerel  at  New  York  that  was  big,  fully  feathered  indicating  strong 
masculinity,  finished  in  tail,  big  faced  and  his  eye  was  as  bright  as  a 
shoe  button.  Henry  P.  Schwab  who  judged  the  class  that  year,  said: 
'There  is  something  about  that  bird  which  is  hard  to  describe,"  In 


124  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

writing  up  the  class,  we  said:  "This  winning  cockerel  is  a  wonderful 
bird;  his  type  could  hardly  be  improved,  and  his  barring  was  truly 
ringlet  in  effect,  while  his  color  was  as  clean  cut  on  his  back  and  tail 
as  on  his  breast." 

This  1907  cockerel  sired  a  cockerel  late  in  1909  that  was  too  young 
to  show  at  New  York  that  winter.  However,  he  was  bred  in  1910, 
being  mated  to  his  own  blood  line,  for  Mr.  Thompson,  like  all  great 
breeders  of  all  livestock,  has  always  appreciated  the  importance  of 
intensifying  the  blood  of  fine  individuals.  A  cockerel  was  raised  from 
this  mating  in  1910  that  won  1st  and  champion  male  at  the  Garden 
show  of  1910-11.  This  cockerel  in  turn  sired  the  2d  cock  of  1913. 
The  1913  cock  was  not  only  a  wonder  as  he  stood  in  the  garden,  but 
proved  to  be  a  great  producer. 

The  other  line  of  blood  which  we  shall  trace  was  prominent  in 
the  winning  at  the  New  York  show  of  Dec.  28,  1908,  to  Jan.  2,  1909, 
when  Mr.  Thompson  won  second  on  a  wonderful  cock.  In  writing 
up  the  show  that  year,  we  said:  "The  second  cock  was  a  big  bird, 
strong  in  color  and  of  good  appearance;  third,  another  good  bird, 
but  not  as  good  in  comb  or  as  well  finished  in  tail  as  second."  Of 
the  first  cock,  all  we  said  was:  "First,  about  Standard  size."  It  is 
plain  to  understand  from  this  old  report  that  it  was  the  second  cock- 
that  filled  our  eye.  Mr.  Thompson  exhibited  another  cock  of  similar 
quality,  a  brother  of  the  second  cock,  but  unplaced  because  hens  had 
picked  off  some  of  his  comb  while  he  was  yet  a  cockerel.  Roth  birds 
were  clear  blue  in  color  and  finely  barred. 

This  second  line  of  males  goes  back  to  the  cock  that  won  at  the 
Pan-American  Exposition.  October.  1901.  The  Pan-American  cock 
again  won  1st  at  the  Garden  in  1902.  He  sired  the  first  prize  cock 
at  the  Garden  in  1903.  That  was  the  bird  of  which  Mr.  Scudder,  who 
judged  the  Barred  Rocks  at  the  Garden  for  many  years,  said:  "He  Is 
a  bright  colored  fellow.  If  you  pull  out  a  feather  and  lay  it  on  a  piece 
of  paper,  you  observe  that  the  white  bar  is  white  and  dark  bar  Is 
snappy,  yet  the  plumage  as  a  whole  is  very  even  and  very  blue  in  tone, 
one  section  blending  into  another,  leaving  an  even  color." 

A  Thompson  cockerel  can  usually  be  picked  out  by  his  big  face. 
A  chicken  has  a  face  although  many  fanciers  have  failed  to  get  the 
full  significance  and  value  of  the  point.  There  are  features  in  these 
birds  that  their  breeder  would  never  think  of  mentioning  because 
they  have  become  second  nature  to  him.  He  has  secured  them,  he 
has  established  them,  and  he  has  passed  on  to  other  more  intricate 
problems. 

Some  buyers  want  a  neat  five-point  comb.  Such  a  comb,  like 
bright,  yellow  legs  and  beak,  does  not  add  anything  to  a  $3  chicken, 
but  it  is  a  fine  thing  to  have  in  a  $200  bird.  Some  buyers  want  under 
color:  it  is  of  no  value  and  no  prominent  breeder  in  America  wants 
it;  what  these  men  want  is  underbarring.  A  silver  Camoine  has  under- 
color galore.  That  isn't  what  you  want  in  a  Barred  Plymouth  Rock. 
You  want  a  consistent,  clean  underbarring. 


BARRED    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


125 


A  good  pullet  is  not  even  one  possessing  a  five-point  comb  and 
barred  to  the  skin.  She  must  have  length  and  type  to  be  good.  The 
black  bar  should  be  of  a  soft  tone  like  black  velvet.  There  is  a  green 
sheen  in  some,  but  that  is  not  as  good,  even  though  it  means  that  the 
white  bar  will  be  whiter.  The  white  bar  should  be  clean  white.  "I 
don't  know  as  it  ought  to  be  pure  white,  like  a  laundered  linen  collar, 
but  there  is  no  danger  of  us  getting  it  that  way  anyhow,"  said  Mr. 
Thompson.  "We  aim  for  a  pure  white  bar — aim  high — and  get  it  as 
good  as  we  can." 

Mating  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  for  color  or  double  mating.     All 

good  Barred  Rocks  of  today  are 
produced  by  the  double  mating 
system.  For  a  number  of  years 
there  were  advocates  of  single  or 
Standard  matings  in  the  west 
after  all  of  the  principal  eastern 
breeders  had  forsaken  single  mat- 
ing; and  the  comparative  value 
of  double  mating  vs.  single  or 
Standard  mating  culminated  in 


To  the  left,  feathers  from  an  exhibition  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male,  owned 
by  E.  B.  Thompson.  To  the  right,  feathers  from  a  dark  or  cockerel-bred  female 
which  should  be  mated  to  the  exhibition  male. 


126 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


a  long  and  vigorous  controversy  between  M.  S.  Gardner  of  New  York, 
who  championed  double  mating  and  Theo.  Hewes  of  Indiana,  who  de- 
fended Standard  mating.  Gardnei  had  the  winners  at  the  great  New 
York  show  to  back  up  his  positior  that  the  best  Barred  Rocks  were 
produced  by  separate  cockere]  and  pullet  matings,  while  Hewes  was  at 
a  disadvantage  when  it  came  to  pointing  out  specific  evidence  of  high 
quality  Barred  Rocks  being  produced  by  single  mating.  All  argument 
has  since  been  abandoned,  one  of  the  old  advocates  of  single  mating, 
D.  T.  Heimlich  of  Illinois,,  writing  in  1919,  that  after  having  fought  for 


This  illustration  shows  what  appear  to  be  feathers  from  a  pullet- 
bred  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male.  The  fact  is  that  these  feathers  are 
from  a  cockerel-bred  male  and  the  photographer's  plate  was  printed  in 
the  negative  in  order  to  show  that  the  pullet-bred  color-type  in  Barred 
Rock  males  is  the  exact  reverse  of  the  cockerel-bred  color-type.  Photo 
by  courtesy  L.  A.  Stahmer. 

single  mating  as  the  correct  way  to  breed  the  variety,  he  had  found, 
after  twenty-five  years,  that  "the  results  did  not  measure  up  to  what 
was  being  done  by  those  who  practiced  double  mating."  The  fact  is 
that  the  probable  value  of  single  mating  has  declined  since  1901,  when 
Gardner  in  making  a  reply  to  Hewes,  cited  the  fact  that  the  1st  pullet 
at  Chicago,  shown  by  D.  F.  Palmer,  and  the  l?t  cockerel  at  Chicago, 
shown  by  Webb,  had  been  produced  by  double  mating,  Mr.  Webb 
showing  no  pullets  equal  to  his  cockerel,  or  Mr.  Palmer  getting  a 


BARRED    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


127 


prize  on  cockerels.  As  cited  by 
Heimlich,  the  single  or  Stand- 
ard mating  system  of  breeding 
Barred  Rocks  is  today  in  total 
eclipse. 

Dark    and    light   m  a  t  i  n  g  s. 

Double  mating  in  this  variety 
consists  of  two  matings  as  fol- 
lows: 

No.  1.  Mating  the  Standard 
colored  male  to  females  whose 
dark  bar  is  broader  than  their 
light  bar,  and  whose  dark  bar 
is  so  full  of  black  pigment  that 
it  carries  a  greenish,  metallic 
luster.  The  undercolor  of  these 
females  is  also  comparatively 
dark.  This  mating  produces 
cockerels  several  shades  lighter 
than  their  dams,  for  the  natural 
tendency  is  for  the  male  to  run 
lighter  in  color  than  the  female. 
This  mating  is  known  as  the 
dark  or  cockerel  mating.  The 
pullets  from  such  a  mating  are  dark  like  their  dams,  and  like  their 
dams  are  very  valuable  for  breeding  exhibition  cockerels.  Both 
cockerels  and  pullets  from  this  mating  are  what  are  known  as  "cock- 
erelbred." 

No.  2.  Mating  Standard  colored  females  to  light  colored  males. 
This  produces  Standard  or  exhibition  colored  females.  As  is  natural 
to  the  variety,  the  cockerels  from  this  mating  come  lighter  in  color 
than  their  sisters,  the  pullets.  They  are  valuable,  however,  for  pro- 
ducing other  pullets  the  color  of  their  dams  and  sisters.  Both  cock- 
erels and  pullets  from  this  mating  are  known  as  "pulletbred." 

The  cockerels  from  mating  No.  1  and  the  pullets  from  mating  No. 
2  are  the  Standard  or  exhibition  colored  birds.  The  males  used  to 
head  mating  No.  1  and  the  females  used  in  mating  No.  2  are  Standard 
or  exhibition  colored  birds. 

It  is  true,  as  already  stated,  that  on  certain  rare  occasions  cockerel 
blood  has  been  infused  with  good  success  into  the  pullet  line  to  give 
more  snap  and  color  to  the  barring  of  the  exhibition  females.  It  is 
probably  equally  true  that  pullet  blood  has  been  used  to  clear  up  the 
color  of  the  cockerel  line.  This  intermingling  has  .been  possible 
because  the  color  formation  of  the  two  families  is  the  same,  the  dif- 
ference being  that  cockerelbred  birds  have  wider  dark  bars  and  more 
pigment  in  their  plumage. 


E.  B.  Thompson's  1st  Prize  Barred 
Plymouth  Rock  Cockerel  at  the  New  York 
Show,  1919.  This  is  the  kind  of  male  to 
use  in  mating  No.  1. 


128 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


It  is,  therefore,  absurd  to  speak  of  the  light  and  dark  matings  in 
Barred  Rocks  as  representing  two  separate  and  distinct  varieties. 
There  is  only  one  variety,  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock,  but  because 
of  the  tendency  for  the  males  to  run  lighter  in  color  than  the  females, 
two  matings  are  made  so  as  to  produce  Standard  cockerels  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  hand.  Standard  colored  pullets  that  will 
match  the  Standard  cockerels  when  placed  in  a  show  pen. 

As  a  general  proposition  the  two  lines  should  be  bred  separately, 
and  when  an  experimenter  introduces  cockerels  or  dark  blood  into 
the  pullet  line  by  using  a  cockerelbred  female  to  a  pulletbred  male, 
he  should  then  use  the  progeny  of  the  cross  and  not  continue  further 
crossing,  and  go  along  on  the  double  mating  system.  Without  these 
experimenters  we  would  not  have  new  and  better  types,  but  the  begin- 
ner should  leave  such  an  undertaking  severely  alone,  and  breed  stock 
strictly  to  his  cockerel  and  pullet  lines  as  separate  units. 

Under  no  circumstances  should  he  mate  an  exhibition  cockerel  to 
an  exhibition  pullet  with  the  hope  of  leveling  up  the  color  in  their 
progeny.  Such  an  attempt  would  be  to  resort  back  to  the  old  dis- 
carded system  of  single  or  Standard  matings. 

The  future.  Today  we  find  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  of  grand 
quality;  birds  of  true  Plymouth  Rock  shape,  with  strong  heads,  broad 
shoulders,  full  breasts,  good  length  and  width  of  back,  full  tails  car- 
ried at  their  proper  angle,  and 

the  entire  body  well  balanced  j 
on  strong,  well  placed  legs; 
birds  of  one  even  shade  of 
bright,  sharp,  contrasting  color 
from  end  to  end,  cleanly  bar- 
red tails  and  wings,  saddle 
feathers  of  the  same  color  as 
tail  coverts  and  each  section 
blending  and  matching  the 
other  sections.  But,  still  the 
work  to  be  done  on  Barred 
Plymouth  Rocks  remains  un- 
finished, the  opportunities  and 
possibilities  are  great,  and  the 
breed  offers  today  a  wonder- 
ful repast  for  thought  and 
study. 

The  old  school  of  breeders 
have  done  much,  have  accom- 
plished much,  of  which  we 
may  avail  ourselves  to  the  - 

fullest  extent.     It  is  for  us  to        E     B     Thompson,s    lst    Prize    Barred 
get   the    right    quality    of   birds,      Plymouth    Rock    hen    at    Madison    Square 

have    them    mated    light,    give    ,9ar,den,-    Ne^Y    York-    I919-     This    is    the 

kind  of  female  to  use  in   mating  No.  2. 


BARRED    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


129 


the  best  of  care  to  the 'growing  chickens  and  provide  adequate  range 
for  them.  Failure  comes  from  poor  breeding  stock  and  careless  han- 
dling. 

The  young  breeder  will  do  well  to  inquire  into  the  merits  of  every 
family  of  the  breed  that  is  today  in  the  ascendancy.  Study  the  claims 
of  each  breeder,  for  you  cannot  know  in  advance  where  you  will  find 
just  what  you  want  or  what  will  do  you  the  most  good  in  the  breed- 
ing yard.  Let  your  letters  travel  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
asking  for  quotations  on  birds  of  good  substance  and  good  breeding, 
for  you  may  well  aspire  to  bring  together  in  your  own  yards,  birds 
that  possess  breeding  possibilities  which  shall  culminate  in  a  quality 
of  Plymouth  Rock  chickens  that  for  beauty  of  plumage,  symmetry 


W.  D.  Holterman  and  His  Son  and  Two  Exhibition  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  Pullets. 

of  form  and  genuine  usefulness  will  surpass  the  most  lauded  produc- 
tions of  the  past. 

No  matter  what  progress  has  been  made,  the  question  of  breeding 
ever  remains  worthy  of  a  man's  deepest  study  and  most, skillful  efforts. 

W.  D.  Holterman  tells  the  secret  of  the  true  breeder's  interest 
and  ambition  in  these  words: 

Before  my  eyes  I  see  a  vision  which  I  will  try  to  help  make  come  true:  I  picture 
to  myself  males  and  females  so  intensely  sharp  and  contrasting  in  color,  so  sharp- 
white  and  blue-black  in  color  of  their  bars,  that  they  will  fairly  sparllde  and  scintillate 
as  they  move  about.  This  is  further  enhanced  and  becomes  much  more  beautiful 
and  striking  on  account  of  their  sharply  marked  lines  or  "rings"  of  alternate  blue- 


130 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


black  and  white,  which  clothe  the  whole  chicken  as  a  perfectly  fitting  garment.  I 
do  not  expect  to  see  chickens  very  much  different  in  type  from  those  we  have  today, 
but  I  do  look,  for  simply  wonderful  improvement  in  the  shade  of  color,  especially 
in  the  intensity  of  both  the  black  and  the  white  bar,  and  also  in  the  "ringy"  barring 
or  "line"  barring,  from  the  very  tip  of  the  head  down  to  the  fluff  and  tail. 

Holterman's  own  start  was  an  humble  one.  Working  for  a  drug 
concern,  saving  a  dollar  at  a  time  with  which  to  buy  his  first  sitting 
of  eggs,  handicapped  at  times  by  ill  health,  he  has  succeeded  in  com- 
bining the  blood  of  some  of  the  best  families  of  this  grand  old  breed 
into  what  is  today  popularly  known  as  the  "Aristocrat  strain." 


. 


Home  of  E.  B.  Thompson,  Breeder  of  Imperial  Ringlet  Barred  Plymouth 

Rocks. 


CHAPTER  VII 
WHITE  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS 

First   White    Plymouth    Rocks    came    as    pure    sports    of    the    Barred 

variety — Some   other   blood   was    probably   introduced    into    the   early 

strains — Leading  breeders  of  the  past — Prominent  breeders  of  today — 

Qualities  to  seek  when  selecting  birds  for  the  breeding  yard. 

The  origin  of  the  White  Plymouth  Rock  is  generally  credited  to 
Oscar  F.  Frost  of  Monmouth,  Maine,  who  exhibited  six  of  his  birds 
at  the  Bangor  (Maine)  show  in  1876,  and  advertised  and  promoted 
the  variety  for  some  years  thereafter.  The  birds  were  white  sports  of 
the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  variety. 

Pureblooded  Plymouth  Rocks.  F.  W.  Proctor  of  Massachusetts, 
writing  of  his  personal  knowledge  of  the  Frost  stock,  has  stated  that 
in  1884  his  attention  was  called  to  the  variety  by  an  advertisement  of 
Mr.  Frost,  and  he  purchased  two  sittings  of  eggs.  The  chicks  that 
hatched  were  of  a  "dark  color"  and  "their  first  plumage  came  uni- 
formly of  slate  color";  and  Mr.  Proctor  states  that  "I  believe  this 
original  stock  was  what  it  purported  to  be — an  albino  Barred  Rock." 

While  Frost  has  received  the  full  credit  of  origination  of  White 
Plymouth  Rocks,  Wm.  P.  Woodward  of  Maine  makes  a  prior  claim. 
Writing  to  U.  R.  Fishel  under  the  date  of  Oct.  13,  1904,  Mr.  Wood- 
ward stated: 

I  was  the  first  one  to  raise  and  exhibit  the  White  Plymouth  Rocks.  I  had  a 
pair  on  exhibition  at  the  Eastern  Maine  Fair  held  at  Bangor,  this  state,  the  year 
before  Mr.  Frost  got  his  chicks.  Mine  were  raised  from  eggs  of  Barred  Rocks  of 
the  Essex  strain.  Unfortunately  my  birds  were  both  cockerels  but  Dr.  G.  W. 
Twitchel  and  myself  thought  they  were  a  pair  at  the  fair.  Mr.  Frost  had  a  few 
pullets  the  next  year,  and  the  White  Plymouth  Rocks  were  bred  from  them. 

Sports  or  Albinos.  Mr.  Woodward  credits  the  origin  of  his  white 
sports  to  the  Essex  strain.  According  to  T.  F.  McGrew,  who  wrote 
a  bulletin  on  "The  Plymouth  Rock"  for  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture,  1901,  many  of  the  white  sports  that  appeared  in  flocks  of 
Barred  Rock  breeders  in  the  early  history  of  the  breed,  seemed  to 
come  from  the  Essex  strain.  As  related  in  the  chapter  on  Barred 
Rocks,  the  originator  of  the  Essex  strain  had  injected  a  dash  of  Light 
Brahma  blood  into  his  line  of  breeding  to  clear  up  the  barred 
color.  Now,  when  white  sports  occurred  they  were  said  to  be  the 
result  of  "throwing  back"  to  this  white  blood. 

The  words  "reversion"  and  "atavism"  are  used  to  indicate  "throw- 
ing back."  Perhaps  "reversion"  is  the  proper  word  to  use  in  explain- 
ing the  appearance  of  White  Plymouth  Rocks  for  it  indicates  resem- 
blance to  a  nearby  ancestor,  wrhile  "atavism"  means  the  reappearance 
of  a  character  possessed  by  some  very  remote  ancestor. 

131 


WHITE  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  133 

White  Rocks  have  also  been  spoken  of  as  albinos,  that  is,  pure 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  in  which  the  color  has  failed,  due  to  pigment 
not  being  secreted  in  a  normal  way.  There  is  therefore,  a  difference 
between  an  albino  and  a  white  sport,  the  latter  indicating,  in  this 
case,  that  the  visible  barred  character  of  the  Essex  strain  was  not 
their  total  possession,  and  that  inheritance  was  not  limited  to  this 
somatically  visible  barring  alone;  and  that  some  of  the  descendants 
inherited  the  white  plumage  which  had  been  introduced  into  the  family 
of  which  they  were  a  member. 

At  the  Bangor  (Maine)  show  of  1876  at  which  Frost  exhibited  his 
White  Plymouth  Rocks,  I.  K.  Felch  officiated  as  judge.  He  states 
that: 

A  trio  of  these  White  Rocks  were  offered  to  me,  but  I  foolishly  declined  to 
accept  them.  However,  I  advised  Mr.  Frost  to  continue  to  breed  them,  for,  as  I 
told  him,  he  would  have  no  trouble  with  the  color.  These  are  the  fowls  which  waded 
through  deep  mire  in  subsequent  years,  before  they  were  admitted  to  the  Standard 
and  their  good  qualities  became  known,  and  the  variety  accepted  by  fanciers.  The 
Barred  and  the  Whites  are  the  only  Plymouth  Rocks  of  absolute  purity  of  Plymouth 
Rock  blood. 

Other  sources  of  origin.  Rev.  John  Hughes  of  Table  Grove,  Illi- 
nois, who  was  a  prominent  breeder  of  the  variety  from  1890  to  about 
1900,  claimed  superiority  for  the  White  Plymouth  Rock  as  a  separate 
variety  and  not  because  of  its  relationship  to  the  Barred  Rock.  From 
a  close  study  of  his  own  stock  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
birds  were  not  direct  in  line  from  sports  of  the  barred  variety,  and 
that  alien  blood  had  been  introduced.  On  this  point  he  wrote  in  the 
summer  of  1901,  as  follows: 

I  do  not  doubt  their  relationship  to  the  Barred  variety,  but  question  their  full 
relationship.  The  faulty  combs  which  have  taken  so  many  years  to  bring  to  full 
perfection  testify  very  plainly  of  a  mixture  of  White  Leghorn  blood,  and  of  the 
origin  of  their  superior  laying  qualities.  The  feathers  on  their  legs,  equally  hard 
to  eradicate,  speak  also  of  a  mixture  of  the  Light  Brahma  or  White  Cochin  blood 
for  size.  This  happily  has  been  accomplished,  and  they  breed  as  true  to  require- 
ments now  as  any  other  breed,  and  they  are  substantially  fixed  as  to  type. 

This  is  telling  the  truth,  as  I  view  it,  as  to  their  origin,  and  as  I  believe  It 
ought  to  be  told.  It  is  a  made  breed  and  must  stand  on  its  own  merit  or  go  down 
as  unworthy  of  its  place.  Tt  cannot  rest  on  borrowed  plunies,  nor  maintain  popu- 
larity because  it  is  a  "sport"  of  another  breed.  In  what  is  a  "sport"  better  than 
the  original? 

This  view  of  origin  was  not  held  by  John  Landis  of  Edinburg, 
Indiana,  who  took  up  the  variety  in  1894,  and  brecl  many  winners  at 
Chicago  and  Indianapolis,  entering  some  of  his  birds  as  recently  as 
the  Chicago  show  of  December,  1919.  Landis  wrote  in  1904  that 
while  much  had  been  written  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  variety, 
and  different  breeds  named  as  having  been  used  in  a  cross  to  bring 
about  the  desired  results,  the  fact  was  that  "the  Simon-pure  White 
Rocks  of  today  are  albino-sports  of  the  Barred  variety,"  and  "the 
birds  that  have  made  names  and  fame  for  their  owners  are  pure 
Plymouth  Rocks  and  owe  their  origin  to  some  of  the  extreme  matings 
in  the  Barred  variety." 


134 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


White  sports  continued  to  appear  in  the  best  families  of  Barred 
Rocks  for  a  period  of  twenty  years  after  the  White  Rock  had  made  its 
debut  in  Woodward's  and  Frost's  initial  exhibits.  A.  C.  Smith  states 
that  a  certain  mating  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  that  he  made  at 
Grove  Hill  Poultry  Yards  in  1895,  produced  five  white  chicks,  four 
cockerels  and  one  pullet;  and  the  year  previous  he  had  seen  three 
white  sports  in  the  yards  of  D.  J.  Lambert,  prominent  breeder  of 
Barred  Rocks  in  Rhode  Island. 

A.  C.  Hawkins  has  told  of  introducing  into  his  yards  in  1886,  a 
Barred  Rock  male  from  a  successful  breeder  in  the  West,  and  in 


White    Plymouth    Rock   winners   at   New    York,    owned    by   Wilburtha    Poultry    Farms, 
M.   L.   Chapman,   General   Manager,  Trenton  Junction,    New  Jersey. 

nearly  every  brood  of  chicks  that  were  hatched  from  this  male  dur- 
ing the  season,  there  was  one  or  more  pure  white  sports.  These  chicks 
developed  into  typical  Plymouth  Rocks,  had  yellow  legs  and  beaks, 
were  pure  white  and  possessed  large  size.  The  following  season  he 
mated  the  white  sports  together  and  from  the  mating  every  chick  that 
matured  was  "pure  white  with  the  exception  of  an  occasional  barred 
feather  in  the  plumage." 

Such  was  the  foundation  of  Hawkins'  strain   of  White   Plymouth 
Rocks.     On  birds  of  this  breeding  he  won  a  number  of  prizes  at  the 


WHITE  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  135 

New    York   show    for   several   years,    and   upon   this    foundation   was 
builded    the    most    successful    strain    of   a    generation. 

Success  of  Bailey  and  Graves.  Some  of  Hawkins'  stock  found  its 
way  into  the  hands  of  A.  H.  Bailey  of  Middletown,  Conn.,  the  first 
great  improver  of  the  variety.  In  Bailey's  yards  outstanding  birds  of 
superior  quality  were  produced  and  eventually  they  began  to  appear 
in  the  White  Rock  classes  of  the  great  eastern  shows.  Bailey  was  a 
constructive  breeder  whose  influence  on  the  type,  color  and  general 
quality  of  the  variety  was  greater  than  that  of  any  man  who  had 
taken  up  the  breeding  of  White  Plymouth  Rocks  after  they  had 
become  established  as  a  separate  and  distinct  race  of  the  Plymouth 
Rock  breed. 

Harry  Graves  of  Higganum,  Connecticut,  grew  birds  for  Bailey, 
and  Bailey  died  before  he  reaped  the  full  reward  of  his  own  efforts. 
Graves  got  the  credit  because  he  lived  longer,  although  he  too  is  now 
deceased.  And  Graves  deserves  much  credit.  He  studied  and  grew 
White  Rocks  for  fifteen  years  before  he  ever  exhibited.  W'hen  he  did 
exhibit,  his  birds  were  in  a  class  by  themselves,  and  their  blood  lines 
were  so  established  that  they  became  the  foundation  source  from 
which  descend  the  leading  flocks  of  White  Plymouth  Rocks  in  the 
east  today. 

It  was  the  Bailey-Graves  strain,  scattered  around  Middletown, 
Higganum  and  Hartford  that  produced  the  White  Rocks  of  surpass- 
ing quality  for  years.  Graves  never  grew  more  than  200,  sometimes 
100  birds.  He  was  a  hunter  and  fisherman  and  he  traveled  up  and 
down  the  Connecticut  valley  and  had  a  great  many  birds  farmed  out. 
When  Graves  died  in  1905,  M.  L.  Chapman  continued  his  breeding; 
system,  although  the  personal  flock  of  Harry  Graves  was  sold.  Chap- 
man had  been  schooled  down  where  the  going  was  fast,  and  he  mated 
many  of  the  farm  flocks  that  had  been  established  by  Graves,  and  sold 
a  number  of  birds.  When  Chapman  moved  to  New  Jersey,  the 
farmers  no  longer  had  anyone  to  mate  their  birds  for  them  and  no 
outlet  for  the  fine  birds  that  they  grew.  But  the  Graves'  blood  was 
already  well  distributed  in  the  hands  of  constructive  breeders. 

What  Bailey  and  Graves  did  could  also  be  done  by  others.  Per- 
haps the  easiest  way  to  go  about  it  was  to  get  some  of  their  blood, 
although  it  was  not  necessary  to  acquire  their  best  birds.  It  is  not 
always  a  matter  of  money  with  which  to  buy  the  highest  priced  win- 
ners. A  man  does  not  have  to  have  the  best  with  which  to  start. 
This  question  of  producing  good  quality  birds  is  largely  a  matter  of 
devotion  to  the  birds  themselves,  a  single  standard  well  fixed  in  the 
breeder's  mind,  and  close  study  of  individual  birds  so  that  they  may 
be  mated  to  produce  the  better  quality. 

Davey,  Delano  and  Owen.  When  Frank  H.  Davey  went  to  Grey- 
stone  Farm  at  Yonkers,  New  York,  it  is  said  that  his  purchases  were 
limited  to  $5  for  any  one  bird,  which  is  equivalent  to  about  $20  today, 
considering  both  increased  currency  and  increased  demand  for  pure- 


136 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


WHITE  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  137 

bred  fowl.  His  predecessor,  as  manager  of  this  farm,  had  spent  con- 
siderably more  than  that  in  buying  different  specimens,  and  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  estate  clamped  down  the  lid  and  hired  Frank  Davey. 
H,e  bought  into  the  Graves  line  and  with  the  best  blood  available 
started  in  to  breed  the  best  birds  possible.  His  series  of  victories  at 
the  Madison  Square  Garden  show  are  part  of  the  records  of  that 
nationally  important  event. 

Upon  the  death  of  Harry  Graves,  the  late  Wm.  Barry  Owen  pur- 
chased the  flock.  He  also  bought  the  Greystone  flock  and  hired  Frank 
Davey.  His  manager,  Maurice  Delano,  was  already  breeding  some 
of  the  best  White  Rocks  in  the  country  and  Owen  Farms  amalga- 
mated three  families  of  Graves'  blood.  Mr.  Owen  was  a  man  of  keen 
perception,  a  man  who  saw  opportunities  clearly  and  who  never  lacked 
that  resourcefulness  necessary  to  action.  He  built  up  a  great  breed- 
ing establishment  and  added  dignity  and  honor  to  the  business  of 
breeding  purebred  poultry. 

White  Rocks  in  the  mid-west.  From  the  first,  the  White  Rock 
made  lasting  friends  in  the  west  and  leading  fanciers  vied  with  one 
another  in  the  breeding  of  this  variety.  The  eastern  fanciers  did  not 
enjoy  all  the  fun  or  gain  all  the  prestige.  The  old  cock,  White 
Prince,  as  bred  by  B.  N.  Pierce  of  Indianapolis,  was  none  the  less  a 
subject  of  comment  among  breeders  than  the  famous  cock,  White- 
Cloud,  as  bred  by  Fishers  Island  Farm,  Fishers  Island,  New  York. 

Grant  M.  Curtis  has  stated  that  the  first  stay-white  White  Plym- 
outh Rock  male  that  came  to  his  notice,  was  a  bird  in  the  yards  of 
Rev.  John  Hughes,  Table  Grove,  Illinois.  This  bird  appeared  about 
1900.  Prior  to  that  time,  and  for  some  years  afterwards,  White  Rock 
males  were  inclined  to  show  brassiness  or  straw  color  on  the  surface 
of  their  backs,  necks  and  wing  bows.  It  was  repeatedly  stated  that 
because  of  the  yellow  pigment  common  to  a  yellow  shanked  and 
golden-yellow  skinned  variety,  brass  would  show  in  the  white  plumage 
and  it  was  doubtful  if  it  could  be  completely  eliminated.  That  the 
theory  was  wrong  has  since  been  proved  by  the  case  of  the  White 
Orpington,  a  variety  that  carries  white  skin  and  white  shanks  and  in 
whose  plumage  brassiness  has  been  a  most  persistent  fault. 

Curtis  opened  the  eyes  of  breeders  and  stimulated  them  in  their 
endeavors  to  produce  a  pure  white  plumage  that  would  not  show 
creaminess  or  tarnish  and  show  brassiness,  when  he  reported  the 
Hughes  male  and  remarked:  "If  nature  can  make  one  such  White 
Plymouth  Rock  cock  bird,  she  can  make  ten  thousand."  Hughes 
ranks  as  one  of  the  early  improvers  of  the  variety.  He  saw  the  faults 
of  the  early  birds  and  was  frank  to  comment  upon  them. 

Recognition  as  a  Standard  variety.  It  was  the  mid-west  that 
accorded  recognition  to  the  White  Plymouth  Rocks  as  a  distinct 
variety.  At  a  meeting  of  the  American  Poultry  Association  held  in 
Indianapolis,  Jan.  25,  1888,  three  new  white  varieties  with  the  same 
breed  characteristics,  White  Plymouth  Rocks,  White  Dirigos  and 


138  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

White  Javas,  were  presented  for  admission  to  the  Standard  of  Per- 
fection. Each  of  these  new  varieties  had  white  plumage  and  yellow- 
shanks,  so  only  one  of  them  could  be  admitted  to  the  Standard 
with  these  breed  characteristics.  Preference  was  given  to  the  White 
Plymouth  Rock. 

The  Dirigo  was  virtually  a  strain  of  White  Rocks  of  Maine  origin 
rather  than  a  new  breed,  and  the  name  was  now  speedily  forgotten. 
The  majority  of  the  White  Java  likewise  disappeared  by  turning  into 
White  Plymouth  Rocks  over  night.  While  ''White  Javas"  were 
admitted  to  the  Standard  at  the  same  Indianapolis  meeting,  the  Stand- 
ard birds  were  required  to  have  willow  legs,  a  character  that  few  of 
the  specimens  possessed;  and  the  "White  Java"  was  eventually 
dropped  from  the  Standard. 

U.  R.  Fishel  a  leading  breeder.  The  career  of  the  White  Plymouth 
Rock  has  been  marked  by  steadiness,  and  while  some  varieties  have 
been  boomed  and  suffered  from  over-appreciation,  and,  later,  neglect, 
the  White  Plymouth  Rock  has  enjoyed  a  natural,  healthy  growth  in 
popularity.  While  as  much  as  $500  has  been  paid  for  a  single  male, 
and  $900  for  a  pen,  there  has  been  a  year-after-year  demand  for  typical 
females  of  good  substance  at  $5  to  $25.  and  for  males  of  equal  quality 
at  $10  to  $50  each. 

In  producing  fowls  of  this  sort,  the  breeding  of  no  variety  of  the 
American  class  has  shown  greater  regularity,  and  this  fowl  has  been 
the  one  on  which  notable  business  successes  have  been  built,  par- 
ticularly the  business  success  of  U.  R.  Fishel,  whose  White  Plymouth 
Rock  farm  covers  120  acres  of  blue  grass  country  at  Hope  in  southern 
Indiana. 

It  is  natural  that  great  credit  should  be  attached  to  the  name  of 
Frost  for  in  every  great  movement  much  fame  and  credit  are  attached 
to  the  individual  who  began  it.  The  name  of  Columbus,  the  dis- 
coverer, is  linked  with  everlasting  fidelity  with  that  of  America;  but 
when  the  institutions  of  America  are  reviewed,  the  names  of  those 
who  struggled,  endured  and  established,  are  worthy  of  reverence  also. 
So  it  is  in  the  varieties  of  poultry;  the  originators  are  remembered 
and  quoted,  but  those  who  "reach  the  goal"  as  breeders  of  the  varie- 
ties are  worthy  of  the  highest  praise. 

No  mention  of  White  Plymouth  Rocks  is  therefore  complete  with- 
out reference  to  U.  R.  Fishel,  a  breeder  whose  own  name  is  synony- 
mous with  that  of  the  variety  he  breeds,  made  so  by  him  having  been 
that  variety's  greatest  champion.  Through  bright  days  and  dark, 
through  the  sunshine  and  storms  of  a  quarter  century,  U.  R.  Fishel 
has  proclaimed  the  merits  of  the  White  Plymouth  Rock  fowl.  He 
has  distributed  confidence  in  the  variety  and  confidence  is  the  life 
of  trade,  the  architect  and  builder  of  good  will.  Confidence,  well 
founded,  is  the  guarantee  of  permanence. 

Fishel  came  into  prominence  at  the  Chicago  show  of  January, 
1901,  where  he  won  every  1st  prize  but  one.  He  had  previously  won 


WHITE  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS 


139 


largely  at  the  Indiana  State  Fair  of  1898;  the  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and 
Indianapolis  shows  of  1899;  and  the  New  York  State  'Fair  of  1900. 
But  at  Chicago,  1901,  his  exhibit  was  a  sensation,  and  his  White 
Plymouth  Rocks  won  the  American  Poultry  Association  cup  for  the 
best  two  cocks,  two  cockerels,  two  hens  and  two  pullets,  all  the  varie- 
ties in  the  American  class  competing;  the  Rigg  Challenge  Trophy 
for  the  best  display  of  Plymouth  Rocks;  gold  special  for  the  best 
display  of  all  breeds;  gold  special  for  the  best  White  Plymouth  Rock 
cock;  gold  special  for  the  best  White  Rock  cockerel;  and  gold  special 
for  the  best  White  Rock  pullet.  "The  above  record  fully  proves  my 
White  Plymouth  Rocks  as  the  best  in  the  world,"  wrote  Mr.  Fishel 
at  the  time,  and  while  a  rather  large  claim  that  covered  considerable 
territory,  no  claim  for  any  strain  had  greater  justification. 
At  this  time  the  Poultry  Keeper  said: 

When  a  man  has  succeeded  in  producing  a  strain  of  fowls  that  win  almost 
every  premium  worth  having  that  is  offered  by  one  of  the  largest  poultry  associa- 
tions in  the  country,  it  is  the  strongest  proof  that  can  be  offered  of  the  high  quality 
of  his  stock.  Such  is  the  record  made  by  the  Fishel  White  Plymouth  Rodks. 

Modern  White  Rocks.  The  question  today  is  hardly  one  of  im- 
proving the  Standard  exhibition  qualities  of  White  Rocks  further,  but 
rather  of  producing  more  of  these  wonderful  specimens  and  ever  add- 
ing more  utility  to  the  birds. 


White  Plymouth    Rock   Males  of   Good   Type, 
Owned    by     U.     R.     Fishel,     Hope,     Indiana. 

H.  W.  Hallbach  was  much  pleased  with  his  first  pullet  at  the 
National  show  in  Chicago,  January,  1920.  She  did  not  have  quite  as 
much  drumstick  as  some  other  noteworthy  winners  have  had,  but  she 


140 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


represented  to  his  eye  a  very  useful  type.  He  remarked:  "Buyers 
want  birds  that  lay  and  we  must  breed  that  kind,  and  the  types  that 
win  should  always  be  of  the  best  utility  value." 

The  White  Rock,  too,  should  be  a  bird  that  is  in  a  good  market- 
able condition  during  its  growing  period.  Cockerels  that  go  through 
an  awkward  stage  and  then  develop  into  fine  birds  do  not  give  the 
same  full  measure  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  that  is  derived  from 
chickens  that  grow  and  blossom  out  like  flowers,  without  ever  having 
passed  through  an  unsymmetrical  stage. 

Mating.  The  successful  mating  of  this  variety  requires  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  fundamentals  of  breeding.  The  novice  may  mate  his  best 
birds  together,  but  with  more  study  and  experience  he  finds  that 
considerable  corrective  mating  may  be  employed  to  good  advantage. 
The  best  male  and  female  may  both  be  short  in  leg,  and  the  mating 
would  be  much  better  if  the  short,  full  bodied,  full  fluffed  female  were 
mated  to  a  male  of  greater  station. 

The  points  that  constitute  a  good  White  Rock  are  Standard  size, 
true  Plymouth  Rock  type,  a  red  eye,  pure  yellow  beak  and  shanks, 
an  absolutely  red  ear-lobe  and  pure-white  plumage.  The  whitest  birds 
only  should  be  reserved  for  breeding  and  these  may  be  mated  together. 
The  surface  of  the  feathers,  quills  and  undercolor  should  be  as  white 
as  possible  in  all  specimens.  Some  black  ticking,  or  peppering  of 
black,  is  recognized  as  a  fault  common  to  many  pure  white  birds.  If 
this  black  flecking  appears  in  a  minor  feather  or  two,  same  are  usually 
pulled  by  the  exhibitor,  but  if  it  is  present  in  a  main-tail  or  wing- 
flight  feather,  the  bird  is  of  doubtful  value  and  the  breeder  might  as 
well  substitute  some  other  specimen  for  breeding  purposes.  A  bird 
that  shows  any  white  in  earlobes  or  greenish  shanks  should  be  sold 
as  market  poultry  and  never  allowed  to  reproduce  itself  in  the  breed- 
ing yard. 


White  Plymouth  Rocks  of  1901, 


CHAPTER  VIII 
BUFF  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS 

Origin    of    Buff    Plymouth    Rocks — Important    early    strains    of    the 

variety — Influence  of  H.  S.  Burdick — Buff  Rocks  in  the  west — Correct 

shade  of  buff — How  to  breed  buff  color 

Buff  Plymouth  Rocks  came  upon  the  stage  when  R.  G.  Buffington 
and  Dr.  N.  B.  Aldrich  exhibited  specimens  of  this  variety  at  the 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  poultry  show,  1890.  At  this  time,  buff  as 
a  plumage  color  in  Standard  breeds  was  carried  only  by  the  majestic 
Buff  Cochin,  and  the  Buff  Cochin  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of  all 
the  breeds,  being  second  only  to  the  Light  Brahma  at  the  New  York 
show  of  1891,  when  147  Buff  Cochins  and  220  Light  Brahmas  were 
entered.  The  new  aspirant  for  first  place,  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock, 
was  third  in  line  at  that  Madison  Square  Garden  show  of  1891,  the 
entry  of  Barred  Rocks  being  two  birds  less  than  the  total  cooped  in 
the  Buff  Cochin  aisle. 

At  the  New  York  show  of  1892,  thirteen  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks 
made  their  appearance,  and  the  variety  was  recognized  as  a  Standard 
variety  in  that  year.  Here  were  buff  fowls  free  from  the  profuse 
feathering  and  sluggish  disposition  of  the  Cochin;  here  were  Plymouth 
Rocks  that  were  buff.  The  possibility  of  producing  rich  golden  buff 
on  fowls  with  the  economic  properties  of  the  American  breeds, 
enthused  the  poultry  breeding  fraternity.  "When  the  facts  as  to  the 
new  buff  breeds  shone  upon  us,  all  interested  in  fancy  fo\vls,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  went,  as  might  be  said,  color  mad,"  wrote  T.  F. 
McGrew  in  telling  of  the  advent  of  Buff  Rocks  and  Buff  Wyandottes. 

Ten  years  later,  at  the  New  York  show  of  1901,  119  Buff  Plymouth 
Rocks  were  shown  as  against  forty-four  Buff  Cochins,  and  in  1906. 
there  were  130  Buff  Rocks  entered  at  the  Garden  and  thirty-three  Buff 
Cochins.  The  new  variety  had  made  good,  was  established,  and  by  its 
fitness  was  surviving  and  surplanting  its  forbear,  the  Cochin. 

Origin  of  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks.  The  first  Buff  Rocks  as  exhibited 
by  Buffington  and  Aldrich  were  bred  up  from  red  fowls  secured  in 
the  vicinity  of  Westport,  Massachusetts.  From  Westport  west 
through  Tiverton  and  Little  Compton  to  the  Sakonett  river  in  Rhode 
Island  was  an  isolated  district  where  the  red  color  was  uppermost  in 
the  farm  flocks  and  it  was  here  that  the  foundation  stock  of  the 
Rhode  Island  Red  breed  was  secured  by  the  same  Dr.  N.  B.  Aldrich 
in  later  years. 

Buffington  and  Aldrich  made  numerous  excursions  into  this  dis- 
trict. Buffington  was  working  on  his  new  Buff  Wyandottes.  and  in 

141 


142 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


1889,  when  looking  for  material  in  the  farm  flocks  of  the  district, 
found  some  reds  with  single  combs  and  good  buff  color  excepting 
that  they  had  black  tails  and  wing  flights.  Aldrich  suggested  calling 
the  single  comb  buffs  Golden  Buffs,  and  thus  making  a  new  breed,  but 
Buffmgton  preferred  to  make  a  new  variety  of  the  established  Plym- 
outh Rock  breed.  To  test  out  public  sentiment,  Aldrich  exhibited 
Golden  Buffs  at  the  Rhode  Island  Poultry  show,  Providence,  1890, 
and  Buffington  entered  his  birds  as  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks.  The  result 
was  that  every  exhibitor  and  a  large  part  of  the  interested  public 
inspected  the  new  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks  while  scarcely  anyone  looked 
at  the  Golden  Buffs.  That  settled  the  question  of  name. 

Buffington  continued  to  breed  "buff-in-ton  lots"  in  his  Buff 
Plymouth  Rocks  well  into  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century.  He 
called  his  strain  the  Fall  River.  He  experimented  with  the  early 
males  that  he  secured  that  were  of  a  reddish-buff  color  by  crossing 
them  on  White  Plymouth  Rocks.  The  Fall  River  strain  therefore 
was  not  built  up  altogether  from  Rhode  Island  Reds  of  fairly  good 
Plymouth  Rock  type  and  buff  color. 

Wilson  and  Joslin  strains.  In  1888,  J.  D.  Wilson,  Worcester, 
New  York,  upon  learning  of  the  popularity  of  the  new  Buff  Leg- 
horns in  England,  from  reading  a  copy  of  the  Fanciers'  Gazette, 
London,  conceived  the  idea  of  producing  a  Buff  Plymouth  Rock. 
After  a  futile  search  for  foundation  material  in  the  different  poultry 
yards  .of  his  vicinity,  he  at  last  found  in  a  relative's  flock  a  male 

that  had  resulted  from  a  cross 
of  scantily  feathered  Buff  Cochin 
on  a  Light  Brahma. 

Wilson  described  this  bird  as 
possessing  even,  beautiful,  gol- 
den buff  color,  except  his  tail, 
which  was  black.  He  had  yel- 
low shanks,  free  from  feather- 
ing, a  small  single  comb,  weighed 
twelve  pounds,  yet  was  of  good 
Rock  type.  Two  females  of  Buff 
color  were  also  selected,  and 
these  were  chosen  for  the 
smoothest  surface  color  and  the 
least  feathering  on  shanks.  This 
trio  formed  the  foundation  of 
what  later  proved  to  be  the  pop- 
ular Wilson  strain. 

That  year  the  trio  produced 
about   forty  chicks.     The  black 
1st    prize     Buff    Plymouth     Rock    hen,      striping    in    the    hackle    of    the 
Kansas    City,    Mo.,    1919.     Bred    by    C.    R. 


BUFF  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  143 

the  first  cross,  now  came  to  the  surface,  and  Wilson  was  puzzled  about 
this,  but  he  was  able  to  select  two  yards  of  creditable  birds  from  the 
forty  chicks,  and  improvement  the  following  season  was  very  marked. 
The  line  continued  to  improve  and  in  1893  the  birds  made  a  great  name 
for  their  breeder  by  winning  at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago,  1st 
cock,  1st  hen,  1st  cockerel,  1st  pullet  and  1st  pen.  Several  of  these 
birds  were  sold  to  an  English  breeder,  and  in  this  World's  Fair 
collection  was  a  female  that  continued  to  win  at  Madison  Square 
Garden  until  her  death  in  1897. 

Another  prominent  strain  of  Buff  Rocks  appeared  in  the  early 
nineties.  It  was  bred  by  J.  O.  Joslin,  Tiashoke,  New  York.  Joslin 
claimed  that  his  stock  was  free  from  Buff  Cochin  blood.  While  this 
was  a  controversial  point,  the  fact  was  that  Joslin  was  very  success- 
ful in  breeding  a  pure  buff  bird,  his  stock  being  remarkably  free 
from  black  in  tail,  wing  primaries  and  secondaries,  and  the  birds 
were  of  good  Plymouth  Rock  shape. 

F.  C.  Shepard  as  a  breeder.  Between  1890  and  1900  several  strains 
of  prominence  were  started.  With  the  foundation  laid  by  Buffington. 
W'ilson  and  Joslin,  numerous  breeders  took  up  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks. 
One  of  the  best  known  names  among  these  successful  breeders  was 
that  of  F.  C.  Shepard,  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  who  made  his  start  in  1893 
and  for  twenty  years  exhibited  at  the  leading  shows. 

Shepard's  start  was  made  on  the  original  foundation  stock  of  the 
variety.  He  purchased  from  Buffington  in  1893  the  2d  Buff  Rock 
cock  at  the  New  York  show,  and  at  the  same  time  obtained  two 
pullets  from  Joslin.  The  color  of  the  cock  was  reddish-buff  with 
some  black  in  tail  and  wings.  Shepard  bred  the  birds  as  the  best  to 
be  had,  and  continued  to  linebreed  throughout  his  career  as  a  breeder. 

There  are  those  who  claim  that  Shepard  introduced  new  blood 
from  time  to  time,  but  he  stoutly  put  forward  the  assertion  that  he 
had  but  once  introduced  a  new  bird  into  his  yards,  and  "she  was  a 
pullet  bred  from  a  female  I  sold.  Never  could  I  have  bred  out  the 
off  colors  by  crossing  every  year.  It  is  inbreeding  in  its  closest  form, 
but  it  is  the  only  way  I  know  how  to  breed." 

Shepard  was  never  an  extensive  breeder.  He  mated  four  pens 
each  year  and  raised  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  chicks,  selling  the 
surplus  eggs  for  hatching.  In  1911  he  hatched  eighty-two  chicks 
and  that  fall  had  seventy-seven  head  of  young  stock.  Not  one  had 
been  culled,  yet  upon  a  visit  to  this  breeder's  yards  in  the  fall  of 
that  year  we  saw  but  one  of  the  hatch  that  showed  a  trace  of  white 
and  but  one  that  was  a  little  dark  in  color.  We  weighed  a  cockerel 
that  day  (September  12)  that  had  been  hatched  May  8,  and  he  tipped 
the  scales  at  a  trifle  over  four  pounds.  He  was  a  strongly  built 
youngster.  A  man  could  put  his  fist  between  his  legs,  he  was  so 
broadly  built.  This  cockerel  was  a  living  witness  that  there  had  been 
no  loss  of  vigor  in  the  Shepard  flock. 

Shape  was  maintained.    "A  buff  bird  with  a  single  comb  must  have 


144  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

shape  to  make  it  a  Rock,"  said  this  breeder.  He  of  all  the  breeders 
of  America  put  into  his  daily  care  of  the  growing  birds  the  sound 
philosophy  that  half  the  culls  are  not  bred,  but  are  made  by  crowd- 
ing and  lack  of  thoughtful  attention.  He  made  it  a  point  to  develop 
in  every  chick  all  of  the  true  Plymouth  Rock  shape  and  pure  buff 
color  that  he  had  bred  into  that  chick.  As  a  result,  Shepard  did  in 
his  limited  way  about  a  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  Buff  Rock  busi- 
ness a  year,  and  this  over  a  series  of  years  when  a  dollar  was  a 
dollar  and  not  fifty  cents. 

Shepard  was  called  upon  to  judge  the  Buff  Rock  classes  in  a 
number  of  leading  shows,  and  of  his  own  winners,  perhaps  his  1st 
prize  pullet  at  the  Pan-American  Exposition,  Buffalo,  1901,  was  most 
admired  because  of  her  smooth  surface  of  correct  and  pleasing  shade 
of  buff.  She  was  pronounced  by  F.  L.  Sewell  to  be  the  finest  modeled 
pullet  in  the  Plymouth  Rock  classes,  all  varieties. 

The  Nugget  strain.  Henry  S.  Burdick  died  in  1901,  but  "Burdick's 
Nuggets"  is  a  well  known  name  among  Buff  Rock  breeders  of  the 
present  day.  Burdick  was  a  man  of  excellent  character  and  enjoyed 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  poultrybreeding  fraternity.  Born  in 
Connecticut,  he  lived  in  Brooklyn  for  some  time,  and  removing  from 
thence  to  Rome,  New  York,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  breeding  of 
fine  poultry,  and  passed  away  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years. 

This  master  breeder,  beyond  peradventure  of  doubt,  deserves  the 
distinction  of  having  been  the  greatest  improver  of  the  Buff  Plymouth 
Rock.  The  leading  strains  of  the  east  and  west  were  rich  in  the  blood 
of  Burdick's  Nuggets.  Burdick  used  both  Buffmgton  and  Wilson 
stock.  "The  Wilson  strain  had  the  better  size  and  color;  the  Fall 
River  strain,  the  better  form,"  wrote  McGrew. 

The  plan  of  mating  used  by  Burdick  was  based  on  the  theory  that 
domestic  animals  as  well  as  wild  animals  should  mate  by  natural 
selection.  For  years  he  followed  the  plan  of  selecting  females  of 
the  same  general  quality  and  characteristics,  not  varying  more  than 
one  shade  in  color,  and  putting  them  in  three  pens.  He  then  employed 
three  males,  either  full  brothers  or  cock  and  sons,  one  light  Standard 
in  color,  one  light  orange,  and  the  third  dark  orange,  and  changed 
these  males  in  the  three  pens  in  rotation  every  third  day. 

Bennett  a  leading  western  breeder.  Dr.  O.  P.  Bennett,  Mazon, 
Illinois,  whose  Buff  Rocks  sent  into  total  eclipse  all  other  flocks  of 
the  variety  in  the  west,  got  his  stock  from  Burdick.  About  1896  he 
sent  to  Rome,  New  York,  for  six  hundred  selected  eggs  from  the 
Nuggets,  paying  $5  a  sitting,  which  was  $2  more  than  Mr.  Burdick's 
usual  price,  in  order  to  get  the  best.  In  this  purchase  Bennett  laid 
the  foundation  for  his  strain. 

January  21  to  26,  1901,  at  the  annual  meet  of  the  American  Buff 
Plymouth  Rock  Club  at  the  Chicago  Poultry  Show,  Bennett  won 
4,  5  cocks;  1,  3,  4  hens;  2,  3,  4  cockerels;  1,  3,  4  pullets;  1,  2  pens,  and 
the  silver  cup  offered  by  the  club  for  the  best  cock,  hen,  cockerel, 


BUFF  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS  145 

pullet  and  pen  shown  by  one  exhibitor.  The  subsequent  year,  Chicago, 
January  20  to  25,  1902,  Bennett  came  back  stronger  than  before  and 
swept  the  deck  of  all  first  prizes,  winning  on  his  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks 
1,  2,  3,  5  cocks;  1,  2,  3,  4  hens;  1,  2,  3  cockerels;  1,  4,  5  pullets;  1,  2,  4 
pen,  and  the  $100  silver  cup  for  the  best  display  of  any  variety  in 
the  show. 

Bennett's  reputation  had  permeated  the  outer  rim  of  Buff  Rock 
circles  as  a  result  of  his  big  win  at  the  club  show  in  Chicago,  1901, 
and  he  was  engaged  to  judge  the  class  at  Boston,  January,  1902. 
There  were  lined  up  172  of  the  best  Buff  Rocks  that  the  country 
could  produce.  W.  H.  Higgins,  Orange,  Massachusetts,  won  1st 
cockerel  on  a  bird  that  was  a  marvel  for  color  and  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor to  his  famous  cockerel  Wonder,  which  won  1st  at  Boston, 
January,  1900.  Frank  G.  Bean,  Collegeville,  Pennsylvania,  won  1st 
and  gold  special  on  pullet  in  a  class  of  sixty-five  at  this  Boston  show 
under  Bennett. 

Delano  and  Denny.  Other  breeders  have  come  into  prominence  in 
the  east,  including  C.  L.  Pensyl,  W.  H.  Overbaugh,  George  Fox, 
E.  H.  Litchenwalter,  John  W.  Poley,  Sam  Harter  and  Vierheller 
Brothers  of  Pennsylvania;  F.  J.  Nutting,  Charles  E.  Coffin,  Maurice  F. 
Delano  and  A.  C.  Hawkins  of  New  England;  and  H.  E.  Benedict, 
D.  S.  Riker  and  W.  C.  Denny  of  New  York. 

Delano  made  his  reputation  as  a  Buff  Rock  breeder.  Leaving 
Connecticut  as  a  young  man,  he  took  the  position  of  poultryman 
at  Millville  Farm  in  southern  New  Jersey.  At  the  Boston  show, 
January,  1903,  Millville  won  on  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks  1,  2,  3  cocks; 
1,  3  hens;  1  cockerel,  and  2,  3  pullets.  During  the  show  Delano  sold 
the  1st  prize  cockerel  to  Edgar  A.  Weimer,  proprietor  of  Exmoor 
Farms,  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  for  $300,  probably  the  highest  price 
ever  received  for  a  Standardised  fowl  up  to  that  time.  Delano's 
reputation  was  now  made,  and  his  experience  in  breeding  buff  color 
was  a  big  asset  to  him  when  William  Barry  Owen  established  Owen 
Farms,  brought  over  the  Buff  Orpingtons  from  England,  and  put 
Delano  in  charge. 

W.  C.  Denny  grew  up  with  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks.  As  a  mere 
lad  he  made  his  start  with  them  in  1892.  He  helped  to  organize  the 
American  Buff  Plymouth  Rock  Club  and  was  its  first  secretary.  At 
the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition,  St.  Louis,  1904,  he  judged  the 
Buff  Rock  classes.  For  ten  successive  years,  up  until  about  1915,  he 
judged  the  class  at  the  Madison  Square  Garden  Show,  New  York. 
Denny  became  one  of  the  tfalf  dozen  best  known  poultry  judges  in 
the  United  States,  traveling  as  far  as  the  Pacific  slope  to  officiate  at 
exhibitions;  his  popularity  was  universal,  and  a  kid's  hobby  developed 
into  a  man's  size  job. 

Baker's  Buff  Plymouth  Rocks.  Several  western  breeders  have 
come  into  the  limelight  since  1900,  including  I.  M.  Ashjeld,  George 
Hamm,  C.  A.  Morton,  C.  H.  Barnes  and  S.  D.  -Lapham;  but  C.  R. 


146 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


Baker,  of  Kansas,  has  gone  further  than  any  of  these  in  establishing 
a  family  of  Buff  Rocks  and  building  up  a  great  breeding  establishment. 
Baker  has  shown  himself  to  be  one  of  the  most  constructive  breeders 
in  this  country;  he  has  had  the  hardihood  to  show  in  New  York  and 
Chicago,  as  well  as  Kansas  City,  and  he  has  been  sportsman  enough 
to  show  under  good  judges  and  poor. 

Baker  has  had  the  foresight  to  keep  the  utility  quality  of  his  birds 
paramount,  and  has  been  capable  enough  to  do  this  and  still  develop 
all  Standard  points.  While  some  breeders  have  been  faddists  on  a 
five-point  comb  regardless  of  the  shape  of  head,  and  others  have 
bred  a  lemon  color  regardless  of  the  fact  that  such  a  color  runs 
out  in  the  first  generation  of  the  customer's  breeding,  and  still  others 
have  bred  a  long  back,  even  though  the  body  was  so  deficient  in 
substance  that  there  scarcely  was  room  enough  for  the  wing  shoul- 
ders, and  again  others  have  produced  an  elongated  profile  even 
though  the  shanks  bent  together  at  the  hock  joints,  we  can  point 
with  pride  to  this  breeder  who  has  seen  the  whole  chicken  and  each 
section  in  its  true  proportion  to  the  whole,  and  has  produced  a  well 
balanced  type  of  Buff  Plymouth  Rock. 

Baker  made  his  start  in  1903  by  buying  into  the  Dr.  O.  P.  Bennett 
flock,  so  he  is  today  breeding  Burdick's  Nuggets  in  a  straight  line 
of  descent.  After  five  years  of  breeding  he  brought  out  the  first  and 
color  special  cockerel  at  the  Kansas  City  show,  and  since  has  won 
largely  at  important  shows  east  and  west. 

Correct  shade  of  buff.  No 
color  has  aroused  greater  en- 
thusiasm than  buff.  No  subject 
has  given  rise  to  greater  differ- 
ences of  opinion  than  the  cor- 
rect shade  of  buff,  and  breeders 
of  today,  as  of  yore,  compare 
birds  together  and  carry  sample 
feathers  to  the  shows  to  illus- 
trate and  make  plain  their  con- 
ception of  true  Standard  buff 
color. 

The    Standard    calls    for    "an 
even  shade  of  rich  golden  buff." 
"Golden"    means    like    unto    the 
shade    of    color     found    in     the 
twenty-dollar    gold    pieces    that 
were    coined    in    1896    or    1897, 
when  T.  F.  McGrew  first  wrote 
the    description.      "Since    then," 
1st  prize  Buff  Plymouth  Rock  cock,  and       says  Mr.  McGrew,  "the  shade  of 
grand  champion  of  entire  show,  all  varieties       color    of    these     coins    has    been 
competing,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  1919.    Photo  ,-,,    ,,p.    ,  „    ,  ™^« 


competing, 

by  courtesy,   C.   R.   Baker. 


changed."   "Rich"  does  not  mean 


BUFF  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS 


147 


a  greater  intensity  of  color  or  a  stronger  shade  of  buff;  "rich  golden" 
means  brilliant,  lustrous  golden. 

Buff   color    has    passed    through    different    stages.      The    cinnamon 
color  is  gone.     There  has  been  considerable  seen  of  the  lemon  shade 


Buff  Plymouth  Rocks  as  drawn  by  the  great  American  poultry 
artist,  F.  L.  Sewelll,  in  1896.  The  hen  in  the  forefront  reflects 
the  true  character  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  breed  as  desirable 
now  as  then. 

in  recent  years.  This  lighter  tone  of  color  shows  to  advantage  in 
the  light  of  some  show  rooms,  but  the  general  popularity  of  buff 
varieties  diminishes  when  a  lemon  color  is  bred  and  sold.  All  perma- 
nently successful  breeders  of  buff  color  have  bred  a  rich  golden  buff. 
Advertisers  of  buff,  as  a  rule,  breed  what  the  Standard  calls  for. 


148  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

Those  whose  fancy  runs  to  a  lemon  color  produce  few  more  good 
birds  than  they  themselves  require,  and  instead  of  their  breeding 
carrying  a  strength  of  color  that  enables  it  to  reinforce  the  flocks  of 
customers  and  prove  beneficial  and  popular  in  the  hands  of  buyers, 
they  themselves  must  secure  reinforcement  from  rich  golden  buff  birds. 

The  condition  once  existed  when  the,  eastern  breeders  had  buffs 
and  the  western  breeders  had  reddish-buffs,  and  the  early  western 
breeders  of  Rhode  Island  Reds  had  to  explain  that  their  Reds  were 
not  Buff  Rocks  or  Buff  Wyandottes.  The  west  held  to  the  hot 
colored  buffs  for  a  long  time,  tolerating  black  in  tail  in  preference 
to  white,  and  hoped  to  get  an  intensity  of  color  that  would  be  fade- 
proof,  so  that  the  buff  female  would  not  present  a  washed-out  appear- 
ance in  every  section  save  neck. 

A  few  constructive  breeders,  however,  laid  emphasis  on  a  sound 
buff  under-color  that  would  feed  and  reinforce  the  true  buff  surface 
color;  and  in  picking  males  that  would  produce  good  females  they 
examined  the  breast  feathers  very  carefully  and  rejected  any  male 
that  did  not  have  an  even  sheet  of  buff  color  the  entire  length  of  his 
breast,  free  from  white  shafts  in  the  feathers  and  free  from  whitish 
lacing  around  the  breast  feathers.  The  all-buff  females  have  resulted 
from  the  continued  use  of  such  males. 

Breeding  buff  color.  The  beginner  today  can  start  with  birds  that 
are  infinitely  superior  to  what  the  early  breeders  had  to  work  with, 
and  such  chickens  can  be  hatched  from  a  single  setting  of  eggs  or 
purchased  at  reasonable  prices.  With  such  foundation  stock  available, 
the  beginner  can  follow  the  advice  of  C.  R.  Baker  when  he  says: 

The  foundation  stock  with  which  the  beginning  is  to  be  made  should  possess 
evenness  of  color,  no  sharp  contrasts  either  in  surface  color,  under  color  or  between 
the  two,  good  colored  quills  and  all  sections  harmonizing.  Remember  that  our 
males  have  a  tendency  to  breed  lighter  and  our  females  darker  in  reproducing.  Do 
not  try  to  work  contrary  to  nature's  laws.  As  rapidly  as  possible  get  your  breed- 
ing lines  established  and  in  hand  with  quite  a  considerable  knowledge  regarding 
them. 

Only  strong,  well  grown  birds  have  luster  and  life  to  their  plumage 
color.  The  vigorous  and  strong  may  be  depended  upon  to  produce  the 
right  kind  of  chicks.  For  this  reason,  it  is  well  to  use  cocks  and  hens 
for  breeding  in  preference  to  cockerels  and  pullets.  Cocks  and  hens 
have  come  through  the  molt,  are  fully  mature,  and  any  weakness  has 
had  time  to  show.  If  a  cock  or  hen  is  broken  in  color,  mealy  in 
appearance,  do  not  accept  any  excuse  other  than  bad  color.  In  no 
other  color  is  it  as  important  to  know  what  sort  of  color  the  cocks 
and  hens  carry.  Cockerels  and  pullets  that  fade  are  not  valuable  for 
reproduction  purposes. 


CHAPTER  IX 
SILVER   PENCILED    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 

This  variety  had  its  birth  in  the  Boston  Poultry  Show,  1900 — Different 
breeders  at  work  producing  it — The  crosses  that  were  made — Wonder- 
ful quality  is  shown  at  the  New  York  Show — Popularity  begins  to 
decline  and  quality  suffers — How  to  start  and  breed  good  Silver 
Penciled  Plymouth  Rocks. 

Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rocks  were  recognized  as  a  Standard 
variety  in  1907.  Silver  Penciled  Wyandottes  were  already  an 
accepted  variety,  and  their  existence  not  only  suggested  the  possi- 
bility of  transferring  the  beautiful  color  type  of  the  grand  old  Dark 
Brahma  to  the  Plymouth  Rock,  but  single  comb  sports  from  flocks 
of  Silver  Penciled  Wyandottes  were  material  available  for  use  in  the 
production  of  a  Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rock. 

The  first  strain.  One  of  the  earliest  breeders  of  this  new  variety 
of  Rock  was  W.  C.  Crocker  of  Foxboro,  Mass.  Along  in  the  1870"s 
when  Breeding  Partridge  Cochins,  he  conceived  a  fowl  that  would 
be  his  ideal  of  beauty  and  utility.  In  writing  of  this  conception  in 
later  years,  he  said: 

It  was  one  with  the  beautiful  penciled  plumage  of  the  Partridge  Cochin,  but 
without  feathers  on  the  shanks  to  be  dragged  in  the  mud  and  filth ;  and,  .second, 
my  ideal  fowl  must  be  an  active,  up-to-date,  wide-awake  American  fowl,  and  not  so 
lazy  or  stupid  it  had  to  be  put  to  bed  or  on  the  roost  every  night.  I  see  breeders 
of  Cochins  do  not  attempt  to  have  them  roost  at  all. 

Dr.  Crocker,  however,  dropped  the  poultry  subject  for  some  years, 
but  in  1899  again  took  up  the  matter  determined  to  make  what  he 
wanted.  He  visited  the  Boston  Poultry  Show  in  1900  and  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  his  plan  had  been  anticipated  and  that  Ezra  Cornell 
of  Ithaca,  New  York,  and  George  H.  Brackenbury  of  Auburn, 
New  York,  were  exhibiting  Golden  Penciled,  now  known  as  Part- 
ridge, Wyandottes.  Crocker  was  greatly  enthused.  Cornell  and 
Brackenbury  were  also  breeding  Silver  Penciled  Wyandottes,  on 
which  they  had  been  at  work  since  1894.  Brackenbury  suggested  the 
breeding  of  a  Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rock,  or  as  Crocker  later 
called  his  birds,  Silver  Plymouth  Rocks. 

Crocker  laid  the  foundation  by  securing  single  comb  sports  from 
the  Cornell-Brackenbury  Silver  Penciled  Wyandottes.  These  were 
bred  in  1900  to  a  single  comb  sport  of  the  fine  old  line  of  Dark 
Brahmas  as  bred  by  Newton  Adams,  Utica,  New  York.  The  cross 
was  then  assisted  by  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock  blood,  in  the  same 
way  that  the  Dark  Brahma  was  bred  with  Partridge  Cochins  thirty 
years  earlier  and  that  the  Silver  Penciled  Wyandotte  was  helped  at 
its  origin  with  Partridge  Wyandotte  blood. 

149 


150  THE  AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

By  1904,  Crocker  had  bred  his  stock  so  that  it  was  one-fourth  the 
blood  of  the  Adams  Dark  Brahma  male,  free  from  feathers  on  shanks, 
and  his  best  cockerel  that  year  produced  specimens  that  showed  no 
conspicuous  trace  of  the  Partridge  tendency  to  red  in  the  plumage. 

Others  had  taken  up  the  breeding  of  Silver  Penciled  Rocks  by  this 
time,  and  Crocker  in  the  October,  1904,  issue  of  Poultry  Tribune 
stated  that  his  was  "the  lirst  and  original  strain  bred  in  connection 
with  the  Cornell  and  Brackenbury  stock,  and  1  know  of  no  strains 
today  of  Partridge  or  Silver  Plymouth  Rocks  but  what  received  help, 
either  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  Cornell-Brackenbury  stock." 

Other  breeders  at  work.  Cornell  presented  some  of  his  Silver 
Penciled  Wyandottes  to  T.  F.  McGrew  and  they  were  kept  at  Elm- 
wood  Farm,  Weston,  N.  J.  From  this  stock,  McGrew  bred  Elmwood 
Queen  in  1901.  She  was  a  big  Wyandotte  female  of  excellent  pencil- 
ing and  plainly  showed  the  Brahma  shape  (page  226).  Some  of  the 
other  pullets  from  the  same  breeding  carried  single  combs  which  is  a 
breed  characteristic  of  the  Plymouth  Rock. 

McGrew  held  on  to  these  single  comb  sports,  and  later  secured 
from  Dennis  Shey  who  was  pouitryman  for  E.  G.  Wyckoff,  Ithaca, 
New  York,  into  whose  hands  the  Cornell  stock  had  passed  upon  the 
death  of  Ezra  Cornell  in  1902,  a  trio  of  single  comb  Silver  Penciled 
Wyandottes.  These  with  the  pullets  McGrew  had  made  a  pen  of 
eight  or  ten  birds  and  were  bred  by  him  for  three  years. 

This  stock  as  bred,  culled  and  developed  by  McGrew  then  passed 
into  the  hands  of  James  Forsyth,  Oswego,  New  York,  and  when 
F.  E.  Corey,  who  was  pouitryman  for  Forsyth  left  that  position  to 
assume  management  of  Gen.  McAlpine's  Rock  Hill  Poultry  Farm. 
Ossining,  New  York,  he  took  the  entire  flock  of  Silver  Penciled  Rocks 
with  him. 

At  the  New  York  show  of  December,  1907,  there  was  a  splendid 
class  of  forty-five  Silver  Rocks  and  Rock  Flill  Farm  won  1-4  cock; 
1-2  hen;  1-2  cockerel;  1-3  pullet;  1  pen.  The  following  year  at  New 
York  this  farm  again  won  all  the  firsts  and  in  commenting  on  the 
Madison  Square  Garden  exhibition  of  that  year,  we  wrote: 

Silver  Rocks.  This,  to  us,  was  the  most  pleasing  new  breed  in  the  show.  The 
first  cock  had  good  striping  in  hackle  and  saddle,  black  breast,  white  wing  bows, 
good  head,  excellent  wing,  strong  undercolor.  There  was  less  yellow  (less  Partridge 
influence)  in  the  surface  color  of  the  2d  hen  than  in  the  surface  color  of  the  1st, 
but  1st  had  a  good  breast  and  throat.  First  cockerel  a  jim-dandy  in  every  way,  with 
laced  coverts  over  his  tail  like  a  Light  Brahma. 

A  third  cross.  In  addition  to  the  Crocker  and  McGrew  sources 
of  origin,  there  was  a  third,  and  the  Rock  Hill  birds  had  certain  out- 
ward signs  of  possessing  some  of  this  third  foundation  blood  in  their 
veins.  It  is  well  authenticated  that  a  third  party  worked  along  origi- 
nal lines  and  made  Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rocks  by  combining 
the  blood  of  the  Dark  Brahma,  Silver  Grey  Dorking  and  Mottled 
Java.  Stock  of  this  breeding  was  secured  by  W.  Theo.  Wittman, 
Allentown,  Pennsylvania,  when  Wittman  of  his  own  volition  gave 


SILVER  PENCILED   PLYMOUTH   ROCKS 


up    his    position    as    America's    premier    breeder    of    Brown    Leghorn 
females   and  took  up   Silver  Penciled   Rocks   in   earnest. 

This  cross,  on  the  face  of  it,  would  be  accepted  by  any  experienced 
poultry  breeder  as  likely  to  produce  just  about  what  was  wanted;  and 
after  visiting  Rock  Hill  Poultry  Farm  in  the  fall  of  1907,  the  year  the 
variety  was  admitted  to  the  Standard,  and  seeing  the  birds  as  they 
grew  there,  as  well  as  inspecting  selected  specimens  of  this  flock  as 
exhibited  in  the  shows,  we  are  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  Dorking 


Silver  Penciled   Plymouth    Rocks,    by  A.    O.    Schilling. 

blood  existed  in  this  fine  strain,  and  believe  that  Corey  must  have 
amalgamated  some  blood  of  the  so-called  third  line  of  breeding  with 
the  original  McGrew-Forsyth  stock  which  he  purchased. 

Quality  of  the  Rock  Hill  stock.  Corey  had  at  Rock  Hill  Farm,  on 
the  Hudson,  in  1907,  several  pens  of  big,  strong  hens  that  were  the 
equal  in  every  way  of  big,  husky  Barred  Rock  females.  In  writing 
of  the  stock  at  that  time,  we  said: 

Rock  Hill  Poultry  Farm  comes  down  the  hill  to  meet  the  road.  The  fowl  and 
buildings  are  scattered  over  the  rocky  slope  of  the  hill.  The  youngsters  (White 
Leghorns,  White  Rocks,  White  Wyandottes  and  Silver  Plymouth  Rocks)  were 
wild,  for  they  had  roamed  through  the  brush  and  over  the  rocks  all  summer.  The 
Silver  Rocks  seemed  to  be  the  tamest.  We  took  quite  a  fancy  to  the  youngsters, 
and  the  old  birds,  too,  for  they  seemed  to  us  the  prettiest  of  all  the  sorts  of  fowl 
bred  there.  We  are  glad  that  the  American  Poultry  Association  has  accepted  the 
Silver  Plymouth  Rock  as  a  thoroughbred.  No  variety  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  race 
that  has  been  admitted  to  the  Standard  has  been  more  finished  at  the  time  of  its 


152  THE  AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

acceptance.       It    has    size,    penciling    and    form    that    make    it    worthy    of    the    name 
Silver   Penciled  Plymouth   Rock. 

In  some  of  the  Rock  Mill  males  we  noticed  the  Dorking  comb,  but  we  did  not 
see  one  that  was  not  solid  black  in  breast  and  body.  In  all,  we  liked  the 
variety,  and  we  speak  for  it  a  strong  and  sure  place  among  the  breeds  worth  while. 

/ 

An  early  decline.  Alas,  our  prediction  has  not  come  true.  The 
last  really  good  exhibit  of  the  variety  was  made  at  the  New  York 
show,  December,  1911,  when  Frank  Davey  entered  a  few  good  Silver 
Rocks  and  won  four  firsts.  These  were  of  the  Rock  Hill  strain,  Davey 
when  living  at  Yonkers,  New  York,  having  been  intimately  acquainted 
with  Corey. 

This  wonderful  variety  is  now  represented  in  the  leading  shows 
by  inferior  specimens  that  look  like  mere  sports  of  Silver  Penciled 
Wyandottes,  whereas  so  short  a  time  back,  the  hens  weighed  eight 
pounds,  the  cocks  ten  pounds,  the  birds  had  long  bodies,  the  hens  were 
marvelously  penciled  and  the  males  wore  a  top  coat  of  silvery-white 
color  sharply  contrasting  with  a  greenish-black  breast  and  tail.  Beau- 
tiful birds  they  were,  in  the  hands  of  some  of  the  best  breeders  of 
the  country,  but  customers  who  bought  their  best  blood  evidently 
wasted  it. 

It  is  for  these  beginners  who  buy  good  fowls  that  this  book  is 
written,  and  to  them  it  is  dedicated.  If  it  serves  to  inspire  them  with 
the  possibilities  of  breeding,  makes  plain  that  work  with  Standardbred 
poultry  is  a  breeding  proposition,  and  helps  them  to  study  their  birds 
and  think  out  matings  for  themselves,  it  will  fulfill  its  mission.  Rules 
for  mating  are  of  little  value  unless  there  is  first  instilled  the  pride 
of  craftsmanship,  and  the  beginner  begins  to  see  his  birds,  to  study 
them  and  to  use  them.  The  beginner  must  be  taught  that  to  succeed 
he  must  put  into  his  work  the  best  that  is  in  .him. 

Breeding  good  quality.  While  the  present  status  of  the  variety 
makes  it  harder  to  secure  foundation  stock,  it  need  not  necessarily 
discourage  any  one  from  taking  up  the  breeding  of  these  fowls,  for 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a  man  who  cannot  build  a  strain  cannot, 
after  buying  good  birds,  maintain  their  original  quality  as  he  breeds 
them  on  from  year  to  year.  All  breeders  worthy  of  the  name  are 
constructive,  forward-looking,  building  breeders.  Give  them  birds 
of  health  and  vigor  and  they  will  breed  the  shape  and  color. 

An  illustrious  example  of  constructive  breeding  is  the  case  of  W. 
Theo.  Wittman,  who  had  only  three  years  with  Silver  Penciled  Plym- 
outh Rocks,  yet  in  that  time  bred  wonderful  fowls  from  a  start  with 
mediocre  specimens.  The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  double  mate,  and 
he  is  frank  to  confess  that  the  first  season's  matings  were  mostly 
guesswork  for  as  far  as  he  could  learn  there  was  no  such  breeding 
back  of  any  bird  that  he  secured  as  foundation  material  upon  which 
to  build. 

The  beginner  today  must  duplicate  this  experience,  and  by  follow- 
ing Wittman's  system  of  trapnesting  each  female,  toe-marking  each 
chick  and  carefully  watching  and  studying  the  development  of  each 


SILVER    PENCILED    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS  153 

specimen  from  the  day  it  is  hatched  until  it  reaches  maturity,  he  can 
make  an  analysis  of  breeding  tendencies  that  will  enable  him  to 
make  good  molds  for  his  second  season's  chicks.  Wittman  did  this 
"and  it  helped  me  to  find  my  way  for  the  second  season's  mating." 

While  he  bred  the  variety  for  only  three  years,  at  the  end  of 
that  time  his  birds  were  running  very  uniform,  and  his  flock,  con- 
sisting of  about  ten  cockerels  and  forty  pullets,  had  such  good  size, 
clear-cut  markings,  and  good  Plymouth  Rock  type  that  the  manager 
of  a  large  poultry  farm  was  so  attracted  to  them  that  he  bought  the 
entire  lot. 

Mating  Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rocks.  There  is  but  one  simple 
way  to  breed  this  variety.  That  is  to  mate  together  the  first  year 
the  best  birds  that  you  can  acquire.  Be  sure  that  the  male  is  free 
from  red,  that  he  is  silvery  white  on  wing-bows,  of  good  size  and  in 
robust  health.  Find  three  or  four  females  that  are  large  and  long 
bodied  with  their  backs  as  free  from  yellow-tinge  as  possible.  Mate 
these  birds  together.  This  is  mating  A. 

Set  all  the  eggs  from  this  mating,  pedigree  the  chicks  and  grow 
them  out  successfully.  The  second  season,  select  two  to  four  pullets 
produced  by  mating  A,  that  have  striped,  not  penciled  hackles,  and 
whose  back  feathers  are  dotted  with  black  in  the  penciling'.  Their 
shanks  and  toes  should  be  a  dusky  yellow;  tail,  black  to  the  roots, 
and  wing  primaries  and  secondaries  of  strong  color.  Mate  these  pul- 
lets to  the  finest  exhibition  cockerel  produced  by  mating  A.  This 
mating  now  forms  pen  I  and  is  a  foundation  on  which  you  can  produce 
very  superior  cockerels. 

Also  select  from  the  pullets  produced  by  mating  A,  the  two  best 
colored  pullets,  birds  that  are  big  and  the  most  distinctly  penciled 
with  black  or  white  in  their  wing  bows  and  back  plumage  of  all  the 
pullets  that  you  grew.  Select  to  mate  to  them  a  cockerel  whose  dam 
was  the  best  penciled  hen  in  mating  A,  and  a  cockerel  that  as  a  chick- 
showed  some  penciling  in  his  first  crop  of  feathers,  commonly  called 
chick  feathers.  This  mating  is  a  foundation  on  which  to  proceed  in 
the  breeding  of  fine  females.  This  is  mating  No.  2. 

From  matings  1  and  2  you  are  able  to  produce  in  the  third  genera- 
tion cockerels  from  the  first  and  pullets  from  the  second  that  arc  so 
far  superior  to  those  that  you  started  with  and  which  formed  mating 
A,  that  you  will  astound  yourself  and  your  friends  who  are  watching 
your  work. 

It  is  commonly  held,  and  unfortunately  for  progress  in  breeding, 
that  the  easiest  way  to  mate  is  to  make  mating  A  and  then  proceed 
by  breeding  the  best  to  the  best.  This  single  or  Standard  mating  is 
the  most  difficult  way  to  breed.  The  easy  way  to  breed,  and  the  one 
way  certain  to  make  rapid  improvement,  is  to  split  the  line  into  two 
parts,  one  for  the  production  of  cockerels,  the  other  for  the  produc- 
tion of  pullets.  We  believe  in  the  theory  of  single  or  Standard  mat- 
ing; we  wish  that  all  breeders  who  sell  stock  produced  them  by  the 


154  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS  OF   POULTRY 

single  mating  system  because  their  customers  who  are  novices  would 
be  able  to  use  purchased  birds  to  better  advantage;  but  improvements 
of  both  sexes  by  single  mating  requires  a  higher  order  of  skill  on  the 
part  of  the  breeder  than  improvement  in  males  on  the  one  hand  and 
improvement  in  females  on  the  other,  as  is  the  order  when  the  double 
mating  system  of  breeding  is  employed. 

Mating  1  as  outlined  will  not  produce  exhibition  pullets  but  the 
females  will  be  valuable  for  cockerel  breeding  and  the  longer  the  line 
is  continued  the  more  valuable  will  the  pullets  that  are  produced  by 
this  line  become  as  cockerel  breeders.  The  males  from  mating  2  may 
show  some  white  flecking  in  breast  and  body  but  they  are  valuable 
for  use  in  siring  high-class  exhibition  pullets.  The  pullets  from 
mating  2  will  be  even  better  penciled  when  they  molt  into  hens  than 
they  were  as  pullets.  If  as  pullets  their  throats  are  light  in  color, 
lacking  penciling,  the  feathers  in  this  section  may  be  plucked  and  the 
better  colored  adult  crop  of  feathers  will  grow  in. 

Silver  Penciled  Plymouth  Rocks  at  the  New  York  State  Fair,  Sept., 
1920,  were  the  best  seen  in  some  years.  The  winning  pullet  was 
nicely  penciled  and  the  males  were  quite  sound  in  coloring.  We 
fancy  that  some  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock  blood  has  been  used  to 
reinforce  the  Silver  Penciled.  There  certainly  can  be  no  objection 
to  this.  Years  ago  the  Dark  Brahma  breeders  went  back  to  the 
Partridge  Cochin. 


CHAPTER  X 
PARTRIDGE   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 

How  typical  Plymouth  Rocks  richly  colored  and  beautifully  penciled 
have  been  produced — Eastern  and  western  breeders   who  have  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  development  of  the  variety — How  the  birds  are 
.     today  being  bred. 

To  Geo.  H.  Brackenbury,  Auburn,  New  York,  Joseph  McKeen, 
Ormo,  Wisconsin,  and  E.  O.  Thiem,  Denison,  Iowa,  belongs  the  credit 
of  having  conceived  a  fowl  that  would  be  intermediate  between  the 
Cochin  and  the  Leghorn  and  carry  the  beautiful  golden  penciling  of 
the  Partridge  Cochin,  and  each  of  them  made  their  dreams  come  true 
by  producing  Partridge  Wyandottes.  The  work  was  started  in  the 
80's  by  these  different,  breeders,  and  while  Theim  and  McKeen  co- 
operated and  secured  some  stock  from  Brackenbury,  two  rather  dis- 
tinct strains  of  Partridge  Wyandottes  were  developed,  one  in  the 
east,  the  other  in  the  west. 

The  variety  is  started.  The  idea  of  a  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock 
came  later.  It  originated  with  Dr.  W.  C.  Crocker  of  Foxboro,  Massa- 
chusetts, who,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  thirty  years,  again  took  up 
the  breeding  of  poultry  in  1899,  determined  to  make  what  he  had 
visualized  as  a  young  breeder  of  Partridge  Cochins,  namely:  a  fowl 
with  the  beautiful  plumage  of  the  Partridge  Cochin  but  without  its 
sluggish  disposition  and  excessive  leg  and  toe  feathering.  He  inspected 
the  flock  of  a  Richard  Hooper  who  was  breeding  a  cross  of  Partridge 
Cochins  and  Brown  Leghorns.  He  then  attended  the  Boston  Poultry 
Show,  January,  1900,  and  while  there  found  that  Brackenbury  and  his 
co-worker,  Ezra  Cornell,  were  showing  the  new  Partridge  Wyandottes 
which  were  derived  from  Partridge  Cochin  stock. 

Brackenbury  was  in  attendance  at  the  Boston  show  and  Crocker 
revealed  to  him  his  ambition  to  make  a  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock, 
and  later  secured  from  Brackenbury  and  Cornell  all  the  single  comb 
sports  from  their  Partridge  Wyandottes.  Crocker  also  secured  a  half- 
blood  Partridge  Cochin  male  that  Brackenbury  had  produced  in  some 
of  this  -experimental  work,  and  he  secured,  a  male  from  Hooper's 
flock,  which  was  three  parts  Partridge  Cochin  and  one  part  Brown 
Leghorn.  On  the  results  of  breeding  these  birds,  Crocker  wrote  in 
1904: 

From  these  matings  I  have  bred  some  very  fine  specimens  of  a  Partridge' 
Plymouth  Rock — an  American  type  of  fowl,  with  clear  shanks  and  the  beautiful 
Partridge  Cochin  plumage. 

Crocker  also  developed  a  family  of  the  variety  in  connection  with 
Hooper,  using  largely  Partridge  Cochin  blood  and  introducing  into  it 

155 


156  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

the  double  lacing  and  mahogany  bay  of  the  Cornish  Indian  Game. 
From  this  strain  "some  line  specimens  of  very  rich  plumage"  were 
produced.  Although  Hooper  was  merely  a  cross-breeder,  when  a  man 
of  vision  cast  his  eyes  upon  the  crossbred  flock  and  pointed  out  the 
possibilities,  Hooper  became  enthused;  a  goal  was  set  and  he  began 
to  proceed  toward  it,  mating  so  as  to  produce  in  actuality  his  mental 
image  of  a  beautiful  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock. 

Uther  eastern  breeders  active.  Ten  years  elapsed  before  recogni- 
tion was  given  the  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock  as  a  Standard  variety, 
and  when  in  1910,  the  variety  was  admitted  to  the  Standard  of  Per- 
fection, the  originators  of  Partridge  Plymouth  Rocks  were  almost  as 
numerous  as  the  flocks  that  existed.  The  Partridge  Wyandotte  was 
not  as  well  settled  into  Wyandotte  form  as  at  the  present  time,  and 
breeders  were  able  to  employ  the  single  comb  sports  to  excellent 
advantage  in  revamping  the  stock  into  Partridge  Plymouth  Rocks. 
The  Partridge  Wyandotte  was  quite  well  distributed,  having  been 
recognized  as  a  Standard  variety  in  1901,  and  the  existence  of  the 
variety  not  only  suggested  the  possibility  of  a  Partridge  Plymouth 
Rock  but  afforded  the  ground  work  upon  which  to  build  a  new  variety 
to  be  added  to  the  Plymouth  Rock  breed. 

Among  the  early  New  England  breeders  of  Partridge  Rocks  were 
John  Lowe,  Swansea,  Massachusetts,  and  R.  G.  Buffington  and  Dr. 
N.  B.  Aldrich,  Fall  River,  Massachusetts.  Wm.  F.  Fotterall,  who 
made  several  original  crosses  on  his  Hillcrest  Farm,  Oakford,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  who  was  an  early  and  enhusiastic  breeder  of  the  variety 
and  originator  of  the  Hillcrest  strain,  stated  that  the  first  Partridge 
Rocks  that  he  ever  saw  were  in  the  yards  of  Rowland  G.  Buffington 
in  1902,  although  to  Dr.  Crocker  he  accorded  due  credit  for  being 
"the  first  one  to  bring  this  beautiful  breed  before  the  public." 

Development  in  the  west.  In  the  west,  two  principal  strains  were 
developed,  one  by  John  A.  Hageman  of  Charlotte,  Michigan,  and  one 
by  Sam  F.  Noftzger,  North  Manchester,  Indiana. 

Hageman  was  a  pit  game  breeder  of  twenty  years'  experience,  and 
as  he  lived  in  town,  he  had  for  many  years  farmed  out  his  young 
stock  among  farmers  in  the  country,  bringing  in  the  birds  after  they 
were  grown.  Upon  being  attracted  to  some  Partridge  Wyandottes 
and  inquiring  if  they  produced  some  single  comb  sports,  he  learned 
of  "a  choice  lot  of  so-called  Partridge  Plymouth  Rocks."  Upon  going 
to  Mt.  Pleasant,  Michigan,  and  examining  the  flock,  it  was  plain  to 
Hageman  that  the  birds  were  pure  single  comb  sports.  He  bought 
ten  or  a  dozen  of  them,  however,  and  later  obtained  some  nicely 
penciled  birds  from  a  Michigan  breeder  who  had  crossed  Partridge 
Cochins  and  Brown  Leghorns,  and  he  also  secured  some  additional 
birds,  both  males  and  females,  from  another  Michigan  breeder  who 
had  crossed  Partridge  Cochins  with  Cornish  Indian  Games.  He  then 
mated  three  breeding  yards,  and  from  this  Michigan  stock  produced 
what  he  called  the  Wolverine  strain  of  Partridge  Rocks,  Wolverine 
being  a  nickname  for  the  state  of  Michigan, 


PARTRIDGE   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


157 


Hageman's  stock  had  a  minor  influence  on  the  variety,  while  Noftz- 
ger  of  Indiana  was  an  extensive  breeder,  a  heavy  advertiser,  a  fre- 
quent exhibitor,  and  had  the  advantage  of  an  established  reputation 
as  a  breeder  of  Partridge  Cochins.  His  yards  became  a  fertile  source 
of  supply  of  this  new  variety  for  breeders  all  over  the  country. 

Noftzger  gives  up  Partridge  Cochins.  When  the  profusely  feath- 
ered English  Cochin  was  attracting  so  much  attention  at  the  leading 
American  poultry  shows  in  the  1890's,  and  American  breeders  began 
to  ape  the  English  hobbiests  in  breeding  the  longest,  loosest  feather- 


A  Pair  of  Partridge  Cochins,  drawn  by  Sewell  in  1899,  about  which  time 
the  variety  was  at  its  height.  The  Partridge  Cochin  was  a  parent  of  the" 
modern  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock. 

ing  possible  in  their  Cochins,  Noftzger  found  that  he  would  either 
have  to  cross  English  blood  into  his  Partridge  Cochins  or  sell  his 
birds  at  market  prices.  Along  with  the  other  fanciers  of  the  day,  he 
infused  the  English  blood  into  his  flock  and  began  to  breed  a  full 
feathered  type.  The  decline  of  the  Cochin  now  set  in;  the  generous 
proportions  of  that  type  which  had  given  the  breed  the  name  of  the 
grand  Cochin,  were  sacrificed  for  adbundance  and  length  of  feather. 
A  short  leg  was  bred  and  the  bone  in  the  remainder  of  the  frame  work 
decreased  in  proportion.  The  birds  became  more  dependent  upon 


158  THE  AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

excessive  feathering  for  the  appearance  of  size  than  upon  bone  and 
substance  of  body.  The  knell  for  the  Cochin  was  rung. 

Noftzger  now  went  back  to  the  old  American  Partridge  Cochin 
and  in  1898  began  to  work  in  the  opposite  direction.  Instead  of 
employing  English  blood  to  produce  more  feathering,  he  crossed  an 
American  Partridge  Cochin  hen  that  had  been  hatched  April  1,  1896, 
and  which  had  laid  twenty-seven  eggs  in  twenty-seven  consecutive 
days,  to  a  Cornish  Indian  Game  cockerel.  He  also  selected  a  full 
sister  and  two  half  sisters  of  the  above  hen  "Georgine,"  and  made  pair 
matings  of  each  of  the  four  females  with  four  Cornish  cockerels. 

The  Cornish  has  a  yellow  shank  free  from  feathers,  pea  comb  and 
light  colored  eyes.  The  Cochin  has  a  single  comb  and  a  bay  eye. 
This  experienced  breeder  selected  Cornish  cockerels  with  as  much 
bay  in  the  iris  of  their  eyes  as  possible  and  also  picked  those  that 
had  rather  high  combs-.  The  progeny  of  the  cross  were  not  altogether 
satisfactory,  the  pullets  carrying  the  double  penciling  of  the  Cornish 
instead  of  the  triple  penciling  of  a  Partridge  and  the  cockerels  were 
almost  solid  black  in  hackle  and  saddle  instead  of  black  edged  with 
red  as  in  an  ideal  Partridge. 

Noftzger  as  a  student  and  experimenter.  The  next  season's  mat- 
ing was  a  problem.  Partridge  Wyandotte  males  were  heavily  striped 
in  hackle  and  deficient  in  bright  red  color,  so  after  considerable 
thought,  Noftzger  decided  to  use  Golden  Wyandotte  males,  the  Golden 
Wyandotte  having  more  or  less  golden  bay  color  throughout  its 
entire  breast  as  well  as  being  open-striped  on  back.  In  order  not  to 
complicate  the  comb  section,  Golden  Wyandotte  cockerels  that  were 
single  comb  sports  were  largely  used. 

It  was  difficult,  however,  to  select  birds  with  good  combs  from  the 
third  mating,  the  influence  of  the  pea  comb  of  the  Cornish  and  the 
rose  comb  of  the  Wyandotte  showing  in  side  sprigs  in  the  flock  that 
Noftzger  was  building.  At  last  nine  matings  were  made  for  the  third 
year,  six  of  which  were  reasonably  successful  but  the  progeny  of  the 
other  three  matings  were  consigned  as  market  poultry. 

Being  a  farmer  with  plenty  of  grain  and  enjoying  the  low  prices 
of  the  time,  Noftzger  was  able  to  make  a  number  of  matings  and 
carry  on  his  experimental  operations  in  an  extensive  way.  In  1901, 
he  made  ten  matings.  He  was  now  able  to  use  cocks  and  hens  for  the 
first  time,  instead  of  cockerels  and  pullets;  and  having  color  and  mark- 
ings fairly  well  obtained,  he  paid  more  attention  to  selecting  his 
breeders  for  Plymouth  Rock  shape. 

Noftzger's  second  start.  At  this  point  discouragement  overcame 
the  breeder,  and  having  had  some  correspondence  with  a  breeder  in 
Wisconsin  relative  to  the  stock,  Noftzger  sold  his  entire  flock,  but 
re-entered  into  the  breeding  of  the  variety  with  new  enthusiasm  three 
years  later.  He  secured  several  birds  from  old  customers  in  1904, 
and  made  six  matings  in  1905.  The  following  year  found  him  able  to 
select  typical  specimens  both  in  respect  to  Plymouth  Rock  type  and 


PARTRIDGE   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS  159 

Partridge  penciling  and  eight  matings  were  formed.  In  1907,  ten  pens 
were  mated  and  sixty  females  employed  and  the  new  variety  had 
reached  the  point  where  it  was  made. 

Noftzger,  working  on  such  a  broad  foundation,  became  prominent 
in  the  variety  and  his  breeding  establishment  did  probably  as  much 
business  as  all  the  rest  of  the  Partridge  Rock  breeders  combined. 
Noftzger  had  verily  set  sail  and  reached  his  destination,  Plymouth 
Rock,  but  it  proved  to  be  a  granite  bowlder  on  a  bleek  and  rocky  coast 
and  the  winter  of  1911-1912  blighted  his  hopes  and  he  rapidly  disap- 
peared as  a  leading  breeder. 

New  breeders  come  to  the  front.  At  the  New  York  show  of  Dec. 
19  to  23,  1911,  the  Partridge  Plymouth  Rock  club  held  its  annual 
meet.  There  were  102  birds  shown  and  the  class  was  not  only  the 
largest  but  the  very  best  that  had  been  brought  together  in  the  entire 
country.  J.  H.  Drevenstedt,  a  veteran  judge  and  acknowledged  au- 
thority, placed  the  ribbons.  Noftzger  came  on  from  Indiana  with 
four  cocks,  four  hens,  four  cockerels,  four  pullets  and  one  pen  of 
birds.  Charles  and  Cyrus  Bird  of  Meyersdale,  Pennsylvania,  who  had 
been  breeding  the  variety  for  only  three  years,  also  exhibited.  When 
the  awards  were  up,  Noftzger  had  won  5th  cock,  3d  hen,  3d  and  5th 
pullets  and  1st  pen.  Bird  Bros,  were  the  proud  exhibitors  of  1st  cock, 
1st  hen,  1st  cockerel  and  1st  pullet. 

The  giants  had  come  together  and  Noftzger  with  his  bright  yellow 
shanks  and  orange  toned  Partridge  Cochin  color,  had  gone  down  to 
defeat  before  Bird  Bros.'  bright  red  ground  color  and  shanks  as 
good  as  they  would  come.  Noftzger  had  made  a  fatal  mistake;  instead 
of  first  visiting  the  Madison  Square  Garden  show  and  seeing  what 
was  winning  in  New  York,  then  going  home  and  producing  exactly 
what  the  eastern  breeders  and  judges  would  call  "good,"  he  plunged 
into  the  Garden  with  everything  at  stake — and  lost. 

In  the  west  a  new  star  was  already  looming  on  the  horizon.  F.  N. 
Perkins  of  Freeport,  Illinois,  who  was  breeding  the  Noftzger  strain 
had  won  at  the  Chicago  show  of  December,  1911,  1-2-3-4  cocks,  2-3-4-5 
hens,  2-4-5  cockerels,  2-3-4-5  pullets  and  1  pen.  Noftzger  now  had 
formidable  competition  in  the  west;  and  the  show  reports  of  the  New 
York  show  gave  Bird  Bros,  an  ascendancy  that  made  them  the  con- 
trolling power  in  the  east.  They  had  won  all  the  firsts  at  New  York 
in  1910,  and  now  met  all  comers  at  the  club  show  of  1911  and  won 
four  out  of  the  five  firsts. 

In  commenting  on  the  class  at  the  New  York  show  of  December. 
1911,  H.  P.  Schwab  said: 

Tn  Partridge  Plymouth  "Rocks  the  largest  class  known  was  seen.  This  variety 
surely  is  making  wonderful  headway.  Their  beauty  is  to  attract  and  admire,  and 
we  find  particularly  in  the  east  that  several  of  our  well  known  breeders  are  interest- 
ing themselves  in  this  variety.  Here  in  this  large  and  strong  class  Bird  Bros, 
made  a  phenomenal  winning,  taking  all  first  prizes  excepting  one,  and  several  other 
places.  To  describe  this  class  bird  by  bird  would  be  repeating.  Type  was  the 
general  feature,  with  color  and  markings  close  up.  Head  points  also  deserve  special 
mention,  as  does  color  of  eye.  The  general  character  of  the  birds  found  here  was 


160  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

a  pleasure  to  see.  First  cock  was,  to  our  mind,  the  richest  colored  male  we  have 
ever  seen.  Besides  their  regular  winnings,  Bird  Bros,  won  special  for  display  and 
cup  for  the  best  cock,  hen,  cockerel  and  pullet. 

in  writing  of  the  Partridge  Rocks  at  New  York,  we  said: 

Bird  Bros.'  1st  cock  had  as  good  a  head  and  as  fine  a  comb  as  a  high  grade 
exhibition  Barred  Rock.  The  writer  said  to  Mr.  Bird,  "I  want  to  see  the  stripes 
in  that  bird."  He  replied,  "I'll  give  you  one,"  and  he  handed  me  a  saddle  feather 
with  as  clean  cut  a  stripe  as  ever  is  seen  in  a  Partridge  Cochin,  with,  of  course, 
the  red  of  the  deeper  shade  preferred  in  Partridge  Rocks.  The  stripe  went  into  the 
undercolor  without  a  break.  Messrs.  Bird's  1st  hen  was  a  paragon  of  penciling 
and  Partridge  Rock  coloring.  One  thing  particularly  noticeable  about  her  and  her 
mates  was  that  they  had  the  type.  If  there  was  any  Cochin  or  Wyandotte  about 
Messrs.  Bird's  females,  we  were  unable  to  point  it  out. 

Of  their  1st  cockerel,  J.  H.  Drevenstedt,  who  judged  the  class,  exclaimed: 
"Richest  colored  bird  on  the  outside  that  I  ever  saw !"  His  tail  was  as  green 
as  velvet.  The  2d  cockerel  had  splendid  markings,  quite  equal  to  those  of  the  1st 
bird,  but  was  a  shade  lighter  in  color.  You  should  have  seen  the  combs  of  the 
1st  and  2d  pullets  shown  by  Bird  Bros.  Their  heads  were  like  the  models  seen  in 
the  Barred  and  White  Rock  classes.  The  1st  pullet's  breast  was  marked  to  the 
perfection  of  a  wild  fowl  and  her  wing  bows  were  fine.  Her  fluff  was  so  full  ol 
penciled  feathers  that  it  would  have  been  too  much  trouble  to  count  them.  And, 
while  a  pullet,  mind  you,  she  was  as  cleanly  penciled  on  her  back  away  out  toward 
her  tail  or  down  on  the  sides  as  a  hen. 

History  of  Bird  Bros.'  strain.  These  breeders  started  with  Par- 
tridge Rocks  in  1909  by  purchasing  some  eggs  for  hatching  from 
J.  H.  Lewis  of  West  Virginia.  Lewis  was  something  of  an  experi- 
menter. He  had  originated  so-called  Golden  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks; 
.and  there  is  no  record  as  to  what  strain  of  Partridge  Rocks  he  was 
breeding. 

The  following  year,  Bird  secured  from  a  breeder  by  the  name  of 
Luce  in  Maryland,  a  pair  of  Partridge  Rocks  that  won  1st  cockerel 
and  1st  pullet  for  them  at  the  New  York  show  that  year.  The  origin 
of  the  Luce  flock  is  unknown.  From  these  two  obscure  sources,  a 
great  family  was  to  be  produced. 

Bird  Bros,  are  breeders.  They  breed  turkeys  and  they  breed 
potatoes.  They  haven't  much  in  the  way  of  coops.  Situated  in  south- 
ern Pennsylvania,  along  the  route  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R., 
near  the  Maryland  border,  they  have  a  late  fall,  an  early  season  and 
a  not  severe  winter.  Their  breeding  house  is  rough  and  unpainted. 
Their  brood  coops,  twenty  inches  deep  by  thirty  inches  long,  arc  a 
box  with  tar  paper  on  the  roof.  There  are  some  colony  houses  buiit 
of  two  piano  boxes  joined  back  to  back. 

The  young  -stock  on  range  is  housed  out  in  the  piano  box  houses. 
The  young  birds  run  on  the  blue  grass  under  sugar  trees  and  chest- 
nuts. Their  rations  are  wheat  and  cracked  corn,  open  hopper  fed. 
In  the  morning  they  get  bran,  middlings,  corn  and  oats  chop,  a  little 
beef  scrap  and  charcoal  and  sour  milk. 

The  birds  show  wealth  of  plumage  and  finish  of  feather  around 
tail.  They  have  length  of  body,  and  this  is  important  for  a  Partridge 
Rock  should  not  be  a  single  comb  Partridge  Wyandotte,  short  in 


PARTRIDGE   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


161 


body  and  of  round  type.  The  Birds  got  length  by  breeding  size.  Some 
of  the  cockerels  four  months  of  age  looked  dark,  but  since  growing 
chickens  develop  three  crops  of  plumage  to  meet  the  needs  of  their 
enlarging  bodies,  and  each  crop  is  different  in  shape  and  color  than 
the  preceding  one,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  these  dark  appearing 
cockerels  should  not  be  discounted  too  soon.  Fact  is  that  cockerels 
of  this  strain  show  a  much  lighter  ground  color  with  their  adult 
plumage.  What  prove  to  be  the  best  colored  pullets  of  this  line  show 
barring  or  straight  penciling  at  first. 

How  the  matings  are  made.  Bird  Bros,  have  found  little  difficulty 
in  getting  good  females.  They  follow  the  old  plan  of  W.  Theo.  Witt- 
man  in  breeding  females,  i.  e.,  they  pick  out  the  best  penciled  cockerel 


A  Pair  of  Partridge  Plymouth  Rocks  as  Depicted  by  I.  W.   Burgess. 

when  a  chick,  making  sure  that  he  is  out  of  a  good  colored  hen.  Cock- 
erels and  pullets  are  feathered  and  colored  pretty  much  alike  when 
they  develop  their  first  chick  plumage.  The  best  colored  cockerel  as 
a  chick  is  then  bred  irrespective  of  his  adult  plumage. 

Messrs.  Bird  state  that  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  among  Par- 
tridge Rock  breeders  as  to  whether  a  breast  on  the  male  that  is  mot- 
tled with  red  indicates  good  ability  to  produce  highly  penciled  females. 
They  prefer  to  trust  to  the  trapnest,  and  all  of  their  females  are 
trapped  in  the  spring,  and  in  addition  to  selecting  a  cockerel  from  a 
good  dam,  they  want  him  to  show  strong  tendency  to  good  markings 
as  a  chick,  as  indicated  above.  Bird  Bros,  attribute  patchly  colored 
females,  showing  light  and  dark  red  patches,  to  the  condition  of  the 


162  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

bird  during  its  molting  period.  "We  learned  that  in  our  turkeys," 
remarked  Charles  Bird,  "if  one  gets  droopy,  it  is  very  apt  to  molt  in 
some  white  feathers." 

Comb  and  shanks  are  not  highly  important  with  these  breeders. 
If  shanks  are  a  little  dusky,  they  let  it  go.  Their  males  have  made  a 
reputation  for  bright  color.  It  has  not  been  due  to  tolerating  or 
employing  white  in  the  under  color  for  these  breeders  find  that  in 
their  strain  the  birds  that  show  cotton  underneath  are  usually  dark 
surface  colored  specimens. 

They  use  big,  long  females  to  breed  cockerels.  These  matrons  are 
also  chosen  for  heavy,  coarse  markings  and  striped  hackles.  A  bright 
male,  showing  red  in  breast,  can  be  used  with  such  hens,  and  the 
cockerels  so  bred  will  inherit  clearness  and  brightness  of  ground 
color  from  their  sire,  and  soundly  striped  necks  and  backs  from  their 
dam.  Females  to  produce  good  cockerels  should  be  striped  in  the 
neck,  and  the  ground  color  of  neck  should  be  orange  red,  neither 
lemon  nor  edged  with  black  smut. 

If  a  breeder  cannot  afford  to  get  the  best,  these  breeders  state  that 
light  pullets  may  be  mated  to  a  dark  male,  and  if  the  birds  carry 
good  breeding  in  their  blood,  this  will  prove  a  cheap  mating  that  will 
produce  a  few  good  ones. 

They  have  found  it  a  little  harder  to  get  sound  black  striping  on  a 
bright  colored  male  than  on  a  dark  one,  but  they  do  not  want  a  dark 
chestnut  red  in  their  males,  nor  will  they  tolerate  a  black  shawl  around 
the  lower  hackle  of  the  male.  They  find  that  breeding  a  bright  male 
to  strongly  marked  and  pigmented  hens  as  above  described,  produces 
superior  cockerels  that  molt  into  splendid  cocks. 

Beauty  and  utility  combined.  The  Partridge  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  useful  varieties  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  breed.  The  race 
is  abundantly  furnished  with  plumage,  and  anyone  who  has  experi- 
enced slow  feathering  in  his  Barred  Rocks  should  see  a  flock  of  big- 
boned  Partridges  growing,  and  note  in  particular  their  tails  coming 
out  with  an  abundance  of  coverts  and  lesser  sickles,  greenish  black 
in  color  and  ribbon-like  in  effect. 

The  plumage  of  the  male  is  handsome  indeed;  greenish  black  in 
breast,  body  and  tail,  with  this  rich,  glossy  black  color  placed  in  con- 
trast and  made  conspicuous  by  comparison  with  a  red  neck  and  back; 
while  through  the  long,  flowing,  richly  colored  neck  and  back  feathers 
there  runs  a  greenish  black  stripe.  The  females  are  red,  each  feather 
of  all  the  body  except  the  neck,  being  magnificently  marked  with 
crescentic  pencilings  of  black.  The  neck  may  be  penciled  in  the 
lower  feathers,  balance  of  the  hackle  striped  with  black.  Birds  of 
this  breed  are  plump  at  all  ages,  the  carcasses  are  well  rounded  and 
the  skin  of  no  fowl  is  more  deeply  pigmented,  making  a  golden  yellow 
carcass  when  the  fowl  is  dressed. 

All  black  and  red  varieties  are  at  a  decided  disadvantage  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  they  can  be  properly 


PARTRIDGE    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS  163 

presented  by  means  of  illustrations.  Word  pictures  fail  when  it  comes 
to  delineating  chickens.  Even  in  describing  the  shape  of  a  bird, 
the  average  fancier  talks  with  his  hands.  Nothing  tells  the  story  of 
a  bird  more  completely,  more  truly,  more  forcibly,  than  a  good 
picture.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  detailed  markings  of  the  plum- 
age, but  in  those  varieties  which  have  a  red  ground  color  on  which 
black  is  imposed,  the  camera  fails  its  purpose,  for  both  red  and  black- 
print  black  in  the  negative  and  the  beautiful  contrast  is  lost. 

Any  day  some  unknown  breeder,  perhaps  with  stock  from  some 
other  obscure  source,  may  come  into  the  limelight  as  a  foremost 
fancier  of  this  fine  variety.  No  one  has  a  patent  on  the  breeding 
of  fine  poultry. 


CHAPTER  XI 
COLUMBIAN    PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 

A  color-type  of  surpassing  beauty — Pure  white  bodies  offer  a  fine  contrast 

to  the  black-striped  hackles,  black-centered  tail  coverts  and  greenish-black 

tail — Origin  of  the  variety — Developments  made  by  prominent  breeders — 

How  to  mate  for  best  results. 

The  color  type  of  the  Light  Brahma  was  first  bred  in  the  Colum- 
bian Wyandotte.  This  variety  was  named  in  1893,  the  year  that  the 
Columbian  Exposition  or  World's  Fair  was  held  in  Chicago.  It  was 
a  decade  later  before  work  was  started  on  the  Columbian  Plymouth 
Rocks.  The  variety  was  first  called  the  Light  Plymouth  Rock,  but 
in  1910,  when  it  was  accorded  recognition  as  a  Standard  variety,  it 
was  known  as  the  Columbian  Plymouth  Rock. 

There  was  some  discussion  on  the  desirability  of  making  a  new 
breed  of  the  two  Columbians  and,  instead  of  calling  the  new  varieties 
Columbian  Wyandottes  and  Columbian  Rocks,  naming  them  Rose  and 
Single  Comb  Columbians.  The  difference  in  the  varieties,  however, 
was  so  distinct,  even  in  the  early  days,  that  no  action  resulted  from 
the  discussion  to  breed  the  two  races  to  the  same  shape  standard. 

The  Columbian  Rock  was  a  distinctly  larger  fowl  than  the  Colum- 
bian Wyandotte.  The  Light  Brahma,  the  largest  of  all  the  breeds 
of  domesticated  chickens,  was  close  up  in  the  ancestry  of  the  Colum- 
bian Rock,  and  the  breeders  of  this  new  variety  were  insistent  on 
bone,  size,  length  of  body,  broad  skulls  and  big  heads — features  that 
did  not  characterize  the  Columbian  Wyandotte. 

The  Columbian  Wyandotte  had  the  greater  intensity  of  black 
markings,  the  Columbian  Rock  being  weak  in  black  points,  but  of 
all  things  the  Rock  was  big. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Columbian  Wyandotte  there  was  less 
opportunity  for  a  larger  type  fowl  which  would  carry  the  markings 
of  the  Light  Brahma,  for  the  Light  Brahma  completely  covered  the 
big-breed  field.  But  at  last  the  clean-legged  breeds  of  the  American 
class  began  to  reduce  the  new  recruits  to  the  ranks  cf  breeders  of 
the  majestic  old  Brahma,  and  its  wonderful  color  scheme  of  a  pure 
white  body  with  greenish  black  contrasts  was  not  in  itself  sufficient 
to  maintain  the  premier  position  of  the  old  Asiatic  breed,  and  at  the 
ten  Madison  Square  Garden  (New  York)  show^s  from  1901  to  1910 
the  Light  Brahmas  averaged  ninety-seven  birds  at  each  exhibition, 
as  against  an  average  of  164  Light  Brahmas  at  each  New  York  show 
from  1891  to  1900,  inclusive.  It  now  became  practical  to  transfer  the 
plumage  of  the  Light  Brahma  to  that  large,  typical  American  race, 
the  Plymouth  Rock,  and  there  appeared  to  be  a  big  opportunity  for 
the  progressive  breeder  who  should  perform  the  work  successfully. 

164 


COLUMBIAN   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 


165 


The  originator.  The  idea  of  making  a  Light  Plymouth  Rock  first 
occurred  to  F.  M.  Clemens,  Mechanicsburg,  Ohio,  an  experienced 
breeder  who  in  the  eighties  had  been  prominently  identified  with  the 
origin  and  early  development  of  the  Black  Wyandotte. 

It  was  in  1902  that  Clemens  found  a  male  that  was  a  Light  Brahma 
colored,  good  sized  bird,  of  good  Rock  shape  with  a  fine  type  of 
Plymouth  Rock  comb.  This  male  was  mated  to  two  Bradley  Brothers 
Barred  Rock  pullets,  two  Philander  Williams  Light  Brahma  pullets 
and  two  U.  R.  Fishel  White  Rock  pullets. 

The  following  year  a  cockerel  and  four  pullets  that  were  single 
comb  sports  from  Columbian  Wyandottes  were  secured  from  an 
eastern  breeder.  To  this  sport  cockerel  were  mated  the  pullets  from 


Typical  Columbian  Plymouth  Rock  Male  and  Female. 

the  first  cross,  for  that  first  mating,  having  produced  results  that 
were  various,  gave  from  each  cross  that  had  been  represented  in  the 
pen  a  few  birds  that  were  of  value. 

The  single  comb  sport  Columbian  Wyandotte  pullets  from  the 
eastern  breeder  were  mated  to  a  cockerel  obtained  from  the  1902 
crosses.  "That  fall,"  writes  Clemens,  "I  was  able  to  pick  out  some 
good  ones."  He  then  proceeded  on  this  foundation,  and  later  on,  in 
commenting  on  his  work,  said  that  it  was  remarkable  how  soon 
distinct  type  had  been  secured  by  selective  breeding. 

Clemens  always  advertised  his  strain  as  possessing  Light  Brahma 
color,  true  Rock  type,  and  extra  good  size,  bone  and  vigor,  and 
emphasized  the  fact  that  his  strain  traced  largely  to  the  cream  of 


166  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

Light  Brahma,  Barred  and  White  Rock  blood,  with  other  crosses 
added.  He  had  no  use  for  a  single  comb  Columbian  Wyandotte 
masquerading  in  the  showroom  as  a  Columbian  Rock,  and  on  this 
vital  matter  of  the  day  wrote  in  1911: 

Some  strains  are  of  Columbian  Wyandotte  extraction  and  are  light-boned  and 
small.  I  prefer  the  stock  I  have  secured  by  use  of  Brahma  and  Rock  blood  largely. 
While  I  think  that  Columbian  Wyandotte  blood  has  played  a  part,  and  a  not 
unimportant  part,  in  the  foundation  of  our  breed,  Columbian  Rocks  and  Columbian 
Wyandottes  as  properly  bred  today  are  distinct  and  separate  breeds  in  type.  And 
this  separation  is  important  and  should  be  strictly  insisted  upon.  The  penalty  of 
showing  a  sport  Wyandotte  as  a  Columbian  Rock  should  be  to  disbar  the  bird. 
No  matter  how  good  a  bird  of  that  type  might  be  in  color,  he  should  never  be 
allowed  by  any  judge  to  be  considered  alongside  of  the  upstanding,  heavy  boned 
Rock  type  of  bird,  even  if  the  latter  were  off  in  color. 

Sweet  also  originates  a  strain.  Although  Clemens  was  the  first  to 
produce  the  variety  and  the  first  to  advertise  it,  modesty  did  not 
permit  him  to  claim  to  be  the  sole  originator.  George  H.  Sweet,  of 
East  Aurora,  New  York,  had  worked  on  the  variety  at  about  the 
same  time. 

Sweet  had  become  interested  in  Light  Brahmas  as  a  boy.  His 
father  had  been  a  Dark  Brahma  breeder,  but  young  Sweet  could 
never  forget  such  specimens  of  the  grand  old  Light  Brahma  as 
Philander  Williams  used  to  show.  Charles  A.  Sweet,  father,  was  a 
well  known  judge  and  breeder,  helped  to  found  the  American  Poultry 
Association,  served  as  president  of  that  organization  from  1875  to 
1881,  and  was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  wrote  the  instructions 
to  judges  in  the  first  Standard  of  Excellence,  as  it  was  then  called. 
Sweet  senior  was  proud  that  he  had  one  son  who  took  a  deep  personal 
interest  in  purebred  fowl,  and  George  Sweet's  poultry  career  began 
when  as  quite  a  small  boy  his  father  took  him  to  the  poultry  shows, 
where  he  made  himself  useful  in  selling  catalogs  or  serving  as  clerk 
for  the  old-time  judges  and  marking  score  cards  as  they  would  call 
off  the  cuts. 

In  1905  George  H.  Sweet  happened  to  see  a  magnificent  Light 
Brahma  cock  that  was  almost  a  clean-legged  fellow.  He  purchased 
the  bird  at  once  and  procured  some  White  Plymouth  Rock  hens  as 
mates.  Several  of  the  chickens  that  were  produced  by  this  mating 
proved  to  be  about  what  was  wanted,  although  the  crossing  with  a 
pure  white  variety  had  resulted  in  a  weakening  of  the  Light  Brahma 
markings,  and  the  cockerels  and  pullets  that  he  bred  were  deficient 
in  black  color  in  hackle  striping,  wings  and  tail. 

Sweet  then  was  able  to  secure  some  eggs  from  another  eastern  breeder 
who  was  working  along  the  same  lines,  and  from  these  eggs  he  raised 
two  quite  good  specimens.  Rapid  strides  were  made  from  year  to  year, 
and  in  1909  he  exhibited  some  of  his  best  specimens  at  the  Madison  Square 
Garden  (New  York)  show,  where  M.  S.  Gardner  officiated  as  judge  and 
spoke  in  terms  of  praise  of  the  newcomers. 

Sweet's   aim   was   to   produce  birds   of    Rock  type   and   maintain   as 


COLUMBIAN    PLYMOUTH   ROCKS  167 

much  of  the  Light  Brahma  color  as  possible.  He  realized  that  he 
was  breeding  and  showing  in  the  Plymouth  Rock  class,  and  he  desired 
birds  that  were  fundamentally  Plymouth  Rocks.  When  he  came  in 
contact  with  Columbian  Wyandotte  sports  in  the  showroom  and  was 
beaten  by  them  because  they  had  better  color  of  hackle,  wings  and 
tails,  he  became  disgusted  and  wrote: 

It  is  no  honor  to  a  judge  to  disregard  the  type  of  the  variety  and  place  the 
premium  solely  on  color,  for  the  first  thing  that  establishes  a  variety  is  type.  In 
case  a  Wyandotte,  Leghorn  or  any  other  breed  should  be  shown  in  the  Rock  class, 
the  same  should  be  disqualified  as  out  of  place,  no  matter  how  perfect  the 
plumage  may  be. 

The  Royal  strain.  D.  M.  Green,  Syracuse,  New  York,  produced 
a  strain  of  birds  by  crossing  Light  Brahmas  and  White  Plymouth 
Rocks.  He  named  this  strain  the  Royal  strain  and,  upon  forming 
a  partnership  with  Dr.  E.  B.  Kaple,  of  Elbridge,  New  York,  adver- 
tised it  extensively. 

Green  was  the  most  influential  friend  that  the  variety  had.  He 
organized  the  American  Columbian  Plymouth  Rock  Club,  was  instru- 
mental in  securing  recognition  of  the  variety  as  a  Standard  fowl, 
stimulated  breeders  to  write  on  the  variety  and  thus  secured  much 
valuable  publicity  for  the  Columbian  Plymouth  Rock. 

F.  G.  Bean's  success.  The  first  Columbian  Rocks  were  exhibited 
at  the  Jamestown  Exposition,  1907.  The  first  illustration  of  the 
variety  appeared  in  the  American  Poultry  Journal  of  that  year.  By 
1910  several  breeders  had  come  forward,  and  the  class  at  the  Phila- 
delphia show,  December  12  to  17,  1910,  consisted  of  eighty-nine  birds. 
Size,  type  and  color  of  these  birds  were  a  surprise.  Among  the 
important  exhibitors  was  Frank  G.  Bean,  Collegeville,  Pennsylvania, 
who  won  1,  2,  3,  cockerels;  2,  4  pullets;  shape  and  color  specials. 

It  was  not  easy  to  judge  the  class.  One  breeder,  in  order  to  elimi- 
nate the  brass  that  showed  on  the  surface  of  his  males,  had  attempted 
to  bleach  their  backs  with  peroxide  of  hydrogen.  It  had  turned  to 
brown  the  bluish-white  under-color,  and  his  males  had  to  be  dis- 
qualified. There  were  Columbian  Wyandotte  sports  of  excellent  color 
in  the  class.  Green  showed  some  of  his  White  Rock-Light  Brahma 
cross,  and  his  star  male  which  had  not  been  defeated  before  was 
beaten  in  this  strong  competition  because  he  was  deficient  in  black 
markings.  Breeders  were  in  a  turmoil.  No  two  agreed.  The  variety 
had  been  admitted  to  the  Standard  that  year,  the  future  was  bright 
with  promise,  but  who  was  going  to  be  the  champion  among  these 
breeders? 

The  next  show  season  settled  the  matter  and  the  crown  went  to 
Bean.  At  Philadelphia,  December,  1910,  his  1st  cockerel  was  the 
star  bird  of  the  cockerel  class,  in  our  opinion;  and  his  2d  pullet  was 
much  the  better  colored  and  lost  to  1st  only  in  the  matter  of  size. 
The  variety  had  reached  the  point  where  an  interchange  of  birds 
was  possible,  an4  Bean  had  developed  a  flock  that  blossomed  forth 


168  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

the  next  season  with  such  splendor  as  had  never  before  been  known 
in  any  new  variety. 

Starting  at  the  New  York  State  Fair  in  September,  1911,  and 
including  such  shows  as  Hagerstown,  Philadelphia,  Grand  Central 
Palace,  Madison  Square  Garden  (New  York),  where  only  sterling 
quality  could  win,  Bean  exhibited  fifteen  times  under  fifteen  different 
and  well  informed  judges,  and  won  eighty-three  out  of  a  possible 
eighty-five  first  prizes,  forty-nine  out  of  a  possible  fifty-five  second 
prizes,  and  seventeen  club  ribbons  out  of  twenty  offered.  At  the 
Philadelphia  show  of  December,  1911,  he  won  all  cups  and  show 
specials  offered  on  the  variety.  The  sweepstakes  special  for  the  best 
pullet  in  the  American  classes  was  awarded  to  his  first  prize  Colum- 
bian Plymouth  Rock  pullet,  indicating  that  this  strain  had  been  bred 
to  a  very  high  standard  in  order  to  enable  it  to  beat  all  the  older 
established  varieties  of  Rocks,  Wyandottes  and  Rhode  Island  Reds, 
all  of  which  competed  for  this  special  in  the  American  class.  Bean 
missed  only  one  big  eastern  show  that  season,  and  that  was  Boston, 
where  the  club  meet  was  held  and  where  he  was  engaged  to  judge 
the  class. 

Unfortunately  for  Bean's  own  financial  success  and  for  the  future 
of  the  variety,  this  breeder  was  not  a  business  man  in  any  sense  of 
the  term,  and  after  beating  all  comers  and  hanging  them  on  the  fence, 
he  was  unable  to  follow  up  his  showroom  success  in  a  business  way, 
and  during  the  period  of  Bean's  leadership  the  variety  stood  still. 

Other  prominent  breeders.  New  life  was  injected  when  the  large 
breeding  establishment  of  Wilburtha  Poultry  Farms,  Trenton  Junction, 
New  Jersey,  took  up  the  variety;  and  later,  when  they  sold  their  entire 
flock  to  Henry  L.  Wilbur,  of  Rhode  Island,  the  stock  passed  into 
the  hands  of  a  breeder  who  was  able  to  breed  the  birds  in  numbers 
and  who  exhibited  large  strings  at  the  Boston  and  New  York  shows. 

New  England  long  has  been  ^known  as  the  home  of  the  Light 
Brahma,  and  Light  Brahmas,  White  Rocks,  Barred  Rocks  and 
Light  Brahma-Rock  crosses  have  been  favorites  with  Yankee  poultry- 
keepers  for  many  years.  It  was  to  be  expected  that  some  of  the 
best  Columbian  Rocks  should  be  bred  in  New  England.  Among 
the  early  breeders,  Samuel  Bradley,  of  Lime  Rock,  Connecticut; 
Howard  M.  Munroe,  of  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  and  George  H. 
Dexter,  of  Everett,  Massachusetts,  were  the  leaders.  Munroe  resorted 
to  Light  Brahma  blood  after  the  variety  was  established,  and  as  a 
result  had  the  finest  color  markings  of  any  breeder  of  his  day.  The 
hackle  striping  in  his  males  was  of  a  greenish-black  color,  thus 
presenting  the  life  and  luster  so  desirable  in  the  plumage.  Munroe 
produced  a  number  of  winners  at  Boston,  and  the  course  that  he 
pursued  in  going  back  to  the  Brahma  could  be  repeated  with  advan- 
tage today. 

Mating  Columbian  Plymouth  Rocks.  The  strength  of  this  color 
type  lies  in  the  strong  contrasts  of  black  on  white.  The  back,  breast 


COLUMBIAN  PLYMOUTH  ROCKS 


169 


and  body  of  the  bird  should  be  pure  white  on  the  surface,  against 
which  appears  a  solid  black,  greenish-black  tail,  and  a  neck  striped 
with  this  same  lustrous  black.  This  laced  neck  is  one  of  the  crown- 
ing glories  of  the  bird,  rivaled  only  by  the  big  black  tail  coverts 
edged  with  white,  which  join  the  back  and  tail  together.  These  are 
beauty  features  of  this  plumage,  and  the  secret  of  their  beauty  lies 
in  sound  black  centers  and  clean  white  edging  in  each  individual 
feather. 

The  saddle  plumage  of  the  male  should  be  striped  with  black. 
The  striping,  however,  is  more  open  than  in  the  neck  hackle;  and 
the  saddle  striping  should  not  run  all  the  way  from  the  under-color 
to  the  tip  of  feather,  but  should  be  more  open  and  show  more  white. 
If  you  get  solid  black  stripes  in  the  saddle,  you  have  a  bird  from 
which  you  cannot  get  clean  white  backs  on  the  pullets  he  sires. 

The  back  of  the  female  should  be  white.  Tail  coverts,  which 
serve  to  join  the  white  back  to  the  tail,  should  be  black  laced  about 
with  white.  A  white  back  and  body  plumage  with  two  or  perhaps 
three  rows  of  tail  coverts  that  are  considerably  larger  than  the  hackle 
feathers,  tail  coverts  that  are  broad  and  in  which  there  is  a  full  round 
black  center  which  is  clearly  laced  with  pure  white,  forms  a  most 
beautiful  combination. 

The  color  of  the  wings  is  of  vital  importance  both  for  the  show 
pen  and  for  breeding.-  Flights  or  primaries  of  both  males  and  females 
must  be  black;  lower  edge  of  feathers  white.  Secondaries,  lower  por- 
tion white;  upper  portion  black,  the  greater  part  of  it  black. 

In  order  to  produce  these 
black  points  it  is  necessary  to 
mate  birds  that  are  strongly 
colored.  The  tendency  of  the 
variety  has  been  to  run  to  pure 
white  bodies  and  weak  black 
points.  In  order  to  counteract 
this  tendency  it  is  desirable  to 
save  for  breeding  purposes  fe- 
males that  have  a  heavy  slate 
under-color,  even  though  they 
show  some  black  ticking  in 
backs.  (See  Mating,  chapter  XX.) 
Pullets  may  show  black  tick- 
ing in  backs  and  molt  out  clean 
when  six  or  seven  months  old. 
These  are  valuable  for  breeding. 
The  tendency  in  all  black  and 
white  varieties  is  for  the  color 
to  run  out  from  generation  to 

generation  You  do  not  get  Light  Brahmas.  A  Parent  Variety  of  the 
strength  of  color  by  breeding  Columbian  Plymouth  Rock, 


170  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   O'F   POULTRY 

weak,  washy  birds.  You  get  what  you  want  by  putting  color  in; 
by  having  an  excess  of  color  and  producing  the  ideal  bird  as  it 
works  its  way  out. 

Brassiness  is  a  characteristic  fault  of  males.  Young  cockerels 
from  a  brassy  sire  will  not  show  the  defect  at  once,  but  as  the  show 
season  approaches  and  they  get  their  winter  coat  of  plumage,  the  old 
fault  will  appear,  and  it  will  become  accentuated  in  the  spring  and 
summer,  when  sunshine  and  rain  working  alternately  on  the  feathers 
cause  the  plumage  to  rust.  The  way  to  get  rid  of  brass  is  to  quit 
breeding  it;  to  get  a  male  that  is  silvery-white  on  top, 


First    Prize    Blue    Plymouth    Rock     Hen, 
Chicago,   December,    1919. 


CHAPTER  XII 
BLUE   PLYMOUTH    ROCKS 

Origin  and  mating  of  this  variety 

Blue  Plymouth  Rocks  are  a  recent  production.  They  were  pro- 
duced by  F.  G.  Hasselman,  of  Waveland,  Indiana.  They  were  first 
exhibited  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  in  1914,  and  the  following  year  at 
the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition,  San  Francisco,  the  Coliseum,  Chicago, 
and  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York.  The  variety  has  excellent 
Plymouth  Rock  type. 

The  originator  was  a  florist  and  his  experience  in  hybridizing 
plants  gave  him  a  liberal  understanding  of  the  principles  underlying 
breeding.  His  eye  had  also  been  trained  to  see  and  appreciate  all 
the  fine  gradations  of  color  and  form.  His  new  variety,  Blue  Plym- 
outh Rocks,  were  the  result  of  crossing  Blue  Andalusians  on  Barred 
Plymouth  Rocks.  The  variety  inherits  strong  egg-laying  proclivities. 
It  was  recognized  as  a  standard  breed  by  the  American  Poultry 
Association  in  convention  assembled,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  August,  1920. 

The  color  of  the  male  should  be:  neck,  wing  bows,  back  and  tail 
sickles,  lustrous  blue  black;  breast,  body  and  main  tail  feathers,  a 
clear,  even,  medium  shade  of  slaty  blue  with  a  well  defined  lacing 
of  darker  blue  around  each  feather. 

The  color  of  the  female  should  be  an  even,  clear  shade  of  slaty 
blue,  each  feather  laced  with  a  distinct  edging  of  darker  blue. 

Mating.  A  medium  colored  male,  well  laced  in  breast  and  laced 
somewhat  in  hackle  and  saddle,  when  mated  to  fine  exhibition  colored 
females,  produces  excellent  pullets.  'For  fine  cockerels,  se-ect  females 
that  are  dark  in  hackle,  with  as  good  lacing  on  breast  and  throat  as 
possible,  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  their  backs  should  be  of  a  medium, 
clear  color.  Mate  these  females  to  a  sound  colored  male. 

Standard  colored  birds  may  also  be  bred  together  with  satisfac- 
tion. If  birds  too  dark  in  both  sexes  are  bred  together,  however, 
some  red  may  show  in  the  offspring.  If  birds  that  are  too  light  are 
bred  together,  the  offspring  will  be  deficient  in  lacing. 

It  is  natural  for  all  blue  varieties  of  chickens  to  produce  some 
black  and  some  splashed-white  chickens.  When  these  are  bred  together 
they  in  turn  produce  blues;  however,  a  cockerel  so  produced  should 
not  be  used  the  following  year  with  the  expectation  of  him  producing 
pullets  that  are  a  clear,  even  shade  of  blue,  distinctly  laced. 

(See  illustration  on  page  170) 


171 


O  3 

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CHAPTER  XIII 
SILVER  LACED  WYANDOTTES 

The  Silver  was  the  original  Wyandotte — Its  early  origin  is  unrecorded 
— Brahma  and  Hamburg  blood  entered  into  its  makeup — The  first 
Wyandotte  boom — English  breeders  improve  the  lacing — Infusion  of 
English  blood  in  American  flocks — How  to  mate  Silver  Wyandottes 

The  Wyandotte,  of  which  the  Silver  was  the  oirginal  fowl,  is  a 
strictly  American  production  and  reflects  great  credit  on  the  American 
breeder.  The  word  "\Vyandotte"  has  been  supposed  to  have  been 
adapted  from  "W'yandot,"  the  name  of  a  tribe  of  North  American 
Indians;  but  the  late  Fred  A.  Houdlette,  who  suggested  the  name 
of  Wyandotte  for  this  new  American  breed,  has  stated  that  the  word 
suggested  itself  to  his  mind  because  of  his  familiarity  with  a  coasting 
vessel  which  had  been  christened  Wyandotte  and  which  had  belonged 
to  his  father. 

Naming  the  new  breed.  The  breed  was  originally  known  by 
various  names,  such  as  Sebright  Cochins,  Mooneys,  Hambletonians. 
Eurekas,  Excelsiors,  Columbias,  Ambrights,  American  Sebrights,  and 
recognition  was  asked  for  it  as  the  American  Sebright  in  1877,  but 
the  breed  was  not  admitted  to  the  Standard  until  1883,  when  it  went 
in  as  the  W3^andotte. 

Before  the  meeting  of  the  American  Poultry  Association  in  Worces- 
ter, Massachueetts,  in  1883,  there  were  no  "Wyandottes."  Since 
the  early  seventies  there  had  been  breeders  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  working  on  a  laced  fowl  that  would  prove  to  be  as  popular 
as  the  Plymouth  Rock.  Some  of  the  birds  had  single  combs  like 
the  Rock,  while  others  had  scantily  feathered  shanks  which  was 
evidence  of  their  Asiatic  parentage.  It  was  L.  H.  Whittaker  of 
North  Adams,  Michigan,  who  developed  definite  ideals  for  the  breed. 
He  purchased  birds  that  came  as  near  his  ideal  as  possible;  he  bred 
consistently  to  that  ideal;  and  in  1883  the  breed  had  progressed  to  a 
point  where  its  distinctiveness,  as  marked  by  its  rose  comb,  laced 
plumage,  clean  shanks  and  substantial  size,  won  for  it  recognition 
as  a  Standardised  from  the  American  Poultry  Association. 

In  recognizing  the  fowl,  all  the  old  names  were  rejected,  even 
"Sebright,"  which  in  those  days  was  the  one  word  that  was  synony- 
mous with  lacing,  for  the  Sebright  Bantam  as  originated  by  Sir  John 
Sebright  was  the  fancier's  true  exemplification  of  lacing.  A  new 
name  was  given  to  the  new  breed,  but  the  name  selected  met  with 
general  dissatisfaction  all  over  the  country.  In  commenting  on  the 
new  Standard  of  1883,  C.  J.  Ward,  then  edior  of  American  Poultry 
Journal,  said:  "Some  new  breeds  were  admitted.  American  Sebrights 

173 


174  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF    POULTRY 

were  christened  Wyandottes,  which  we  think  absurd  and  nonsense,  as 
it  means  nothing  and  will  cause  confusion,  but  it  is  done  and  so  we 
will  all  say  'let  it  go.' " 

In  a  later  issue  of  American  Poultry  Journal  (December,  1883) 
Joseph  Wallace  wrote: 

Then  I  with  those  will  take  common  lot, 

Who  try  to  swallow  Wyandotte. 

Eureka !   pride  of  the  black  laced  tribe,  farewell, 

You  have  gone  beyond  the  great  river. 

Many  braves  will  curse  the  spirit  of  Wyandotte, 

As  they  did  when  they  struck  the  lodge  at  Worcester. 

They  will  ask,  "Where  is  our  Hambletonian  now?" 

He  is  gone  to  the  bunting  grounds  beyond  the  great   river, 

Where  the  warriors  of  the  Oneidas  and  Wyandottes  meet. 

They  will  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  beyond  the  broad  river. 

Time  has  proved,  however,  that  ''Wyandotte"  has  been  a  most 
appropriate  name  and  no  one  would  today  have  it  changed.  An 
attempt  was  made  to  change  the  spelling  to  "Wyandot"  at  Indian- 
apolis, 1888,  but  the  motion  was  promptly  defeated. 

Early  origin.  It  seems  strange  that  the  oldest  breeders  of  Wyan- 
dottes were  unable  to  trace  with  certainty  the  early  origin  of  the 
fowl.  L.  Whittaker  found  his  first  Wyandottes  at  Honeoye,  New 
York,  in  1872,  and  the  birds  were  then  known  as  Sebright  Cochins. 
He  made  a  diligent  search  for  records  bearing  on  their  origin  during 
the  following  three  years  "and  each  inquiry  brought  only  a  different 
theory,  and  on  following  up  these  theories  I  would  find  them  to  be 
mere  guesses." 

On  this  question  of  origin,  D.  W.  Hooker,  another  old-time 
breeder,  wrote: 

I  think  no  man  living  knows  when  or  how  Wyandottes  originated.  When  Kidder 
of  Northampton  and  myself  were  breeding  them,  then  known  as  Sebright  Cochins, 
I  wrote  wherever  I  could  hear  of  them,  in  order  to  trace  them  back,  but  the  lines 
diverged  instead  of  converging,  and  I  at  last  gave  it  up  as  hopeless. 

In  1877,  Mr.  Kidder,  who  is  above  referred  to,  wanted  the  birds 
recognized  as  Eurekas,  and  bred  with  pea  combs  and  feathered  legs. 
At  the  same  time,  Whittaker  was  presenting  the  birds  to  the  Ameri- 
can Poultry  Association  as  American  Sebrights.  Others  were 
breeding  them  as  Sebright  Cochins.  The  American  Poultry  Asso- 
ciation, at  its  meeting  in  Buffalo  in  1877,  failed  to  agree  on  a  name. 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  settle  on  a  name  and  a  type  for  the 
breed,  but  the  committee  failed  to  report  during  the  convention,  and 
the  matter  had  to  go  over.  The  breeders  now  saw  the  necessity  of 
coming  together  and  agreeing  on  a  type.  They  were  spurred  to  new 
efforts. 

Theories  of  origin.  Inasmuch  as  the  early  breeders  were  unable 
to  trace  out  the  exact  origin  of  this  breed,  all  writers  of  Wyandotte 


SILVER   LACED   WYANDOTTES 


175 


history  have  been  careful  to  point  out  that  they  can  do  little  more 
than  repeat  the  traditions  and  probable  facts  as  told  by  the  earliest 
authorities. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  foundation  crosses  were  made  as  early  as 
1864  to  1866.  Little  attention  was  paid  to  them  prior  to  1870.  It 
was  in  that  year  that  John  P.  Ray,  Hemlock,  New  York,  secured  a 
setting  of  eggs  from  Edward  Bronson,  also  of  New  York  state.  Bron- 
son,  according  to  Ray,  had  crossed  Silver  Seabrights,  which  were 
not  bantams,  but  large  laced  fowls,  with  large  black  and  yellow 


Silver  Wyandottes  as  Portrayed  by  F.  L.  Sewell  About  1900. 

Asiatics.  H.  M.  Doubleday  of  New  York  was  also  breeding  the  large 
Silver  Seabrights  at  that  time. 

Doubleday's  birds  were  both  silver-laced  and  golden-laced.  They 
were  clean  legged  and  feather  legged.  Some  had  single  combs  and 
others  rose  combs.  He  preferred  those  that  were  silver-laced  and 
carried  rose  combs,  and  for  some  little  time  bred  those  with  feathers 
on  their  legs,  "for  they  were  the  best  birds  as  to  shape  and  color." 

In  a  bulletin  on  "The  Wyandotte"  written  by  T.  F.  McGrew  and 
published  by  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Ray  is  credited  with 
having  crossed  a  Silver  Sebright  bantam  male  on  a  yellow  Asiatic 
hen,  thus  producing  what  he  called  Sebright  Cochins.  But,  in  1904. 


176 


THE  AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


Ray  repudiated  this  theory,  denied  that  he  ever  owned  a  Sebright 
bantam,  and  stated  that  he  had  secured  Silver  Seabrights  (not  ban- 
tams but  a  fowl  as  large  as  a  Wyandotte)  and  had  then  infused  into 
this  stock,  by  crossing,  the  blood  of  a  so-called  Chittagong  (Asiatic) 
fowl. 

No  one  knows  for  sure  the  origin  of  the  big  Silver  Seabrights 
that  Ray  secured  as  foundation  stock.  When  you  look  behind  Ray's 
time  you  see  only  confusion.  There  is  no  recorded  history  and  the 
story  of  the  foundation  crosses  remains  unwritten.  It  is  undoubtedly 


(Above)    Spangled   and    (below)    Penciled    Feathers,    the    Forerunners    of 
Lacing,  as  Shown  in  Wright's  "The  Practical  Poultry  Keeper,"   1867. 


SILVER    LACED   WYANDOTTES  177 

true  that  when  the  breed  began  to  attract  attention,  new  crosses 
were  made,  and  improvement  came  in  the  same  way  that  Ray  secured 
improvement  in  the  already  existing  stock  of  Silver  Seabrights  by 
resorting  to  a  Chittagong  cross. 

Hamburg-Brahma  crosses.  It  is  known  that  both  Silver  Spangled 
Hamburgs  and  Dark  Brahmas  were  crossed,  and  that  these  crosses 
were  amalgamated  with  the  existing  stock  of  Sebright  Cochins.  In 
those  days  the  spangling  of  the  Hamburg  wras  not  as  highly  devel- 
oped as  is  seen  in  the  pronounced  pear-shaped  spangling  of  today. 
Oftentimes  the  spangle  was  only  a  splash  of  black  at  the  end  of  the 
feather,  while  in  other  birds  the  spangling  showed  the  rudiments  of 
lacing.  See  illustration.  The  penciling  of  the  Dark  Brahma  was 
also  more  faintly  determined  and  less  strongly  established.  The 
natural  result  was  that  when  the  mooney  spangling  of  the  Hamburg 
wras  crossed  with  the  crescentic  lines  of  penciling  carried  by  the  Dark 
Brahma,  there  developed  a  strong  tendency  to  lacing. 

The  matter  is  quite  correctly  summed  up  in  the  Standard  of  Perfec- 
tion in  the  statement  thai;: 

Just  what  breeds  entered  into  the  first  Silver  Wyandottes,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
That  Dark  Brahmas  and  Silver  Spangled  Hamburgs  were  two  of  them  has  been 
proved,  as  a  cross  of  these  two  breeds  produces  fowls  that  resemble  Wyandottes,  but 
fail  in  shape  and  partly  in  color. 

In  writing  of  the  new  breed  of  Wyandottes  in  1886,  three  years 
after  their  admission  to  the  Standard,  B.  N.  Pierce,  the  most  promi- 
nent western  poultry  judge  of  that  day,  said: 

That  they  were  principally  the  result  of  a  cross  between  Dark  Brahmas  and 
Hamburgs  is  quite  apparent,  often  indicated  by  reversion  to  white  ear  lobes  and 
to  spangles  in  the  plumage  of  the  females,  which  come  from  the  Hamburg;  and  to 
the  wing  markings  and  other  characteristics  of  the  Dark  Brahmas. 

F.  A.  Houdlette,  who  named  the  breed,  has  written  that  he  never 
had  any  doubt  about  the  Dark  Brahma  figuring  largely  in  the  make-up 
of  the  Wyandotte,  and  that  the  first  stock  he  had  was  of  Dark 
Brahma  origin  crossed  with  Hamburgs  and  White  Cochins.  He 
adds  that  the  White  Cochin  blood  kept  cropping  out  in  white  chicks, 
which  later  on  were  bred  together  and  became  the  White  Wyandottes. 

Whittaker  develops  an  ideal.  John  P.  Ray  was  a  prominent 
breeder  of  the  early  stock,  and  the  Ray  birds  went  under  the  name 
of  Sebright  Cochins.  In  the  spring  of  1873,  L.  H.  Whittaker,  of 
Michigan,  learned  of  the  Ray  stock  and  made  inquiry  concerning  it. 
The  next  year  Whittaker  secured  a  cock  and  pullet  from  Ray.  The 
following  year  he  secured  considerable  additional  stock  of  Ray's 
Sebright  Cochins,  and  wrote  to  Ray  that  he  didn't  want  feather- 
legged  birds,  as  he  had  decided  to  "breed  them  clean-legged  with 
the  edging  or  lacing  of  black  entirely  around  the  feathers,  and  with 
small  combs."  Ray  evidently  wanted  the  feather-legged  type,  for 


178 


THE   AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


he   sold   twelve   of   his  best  clean-legged  pullets   and  a   cockerel   to 
Whittaker  for  $25. 

Whittaker  went  to  the  expense  in  1874  of  securing  a  wood  cut 
of  a  pair  of  Wyandottes  which  represented  his  ideal.  (See  illustra- 
tion.) This  was  the  first  cut  of  the  new  breed  that  had  been  made. 
It  reflected  Whittaker's  original  conception  of  the  breed.  It  cost 
him  $25.  He  traded  an  electrotype  of  the  cut  to  Ray  for  a  pullet. 


The  First  Illustration  of  Wyandottes.  Made  by  B.  N.  Pierce 
for  L.  H.  Whittaker  in  1874,  when  the  breed  was  known  as 
American  Sebrights. 

The  cut  was  later  used  by  many  breeders  to  illustrate  their  adver- 
tising matter.  In  this  illustration,  Whittaker  did  much  to  bring 
breeders  into  unison  on  the  questions  of  type  and  color,  for  the 
picture  told  the  whole  story  of  type  and  color,  completely  and  fully. 
Whittaker  not  only  put  forth  efforts  to  get  all  breeders  of  the 
fowl  to  breed  to  a  common  ideal,  but  he  took  a  genuinely  keen  inter- 


SILVER   LACED   WYANDOTTES  179 

est  in  the  breed  and  tried  to  trace  out  its  early  origin.  He  deserves 
much  credit;  and  Houdlette  has  openly  stated  that  "the  man  who 
stamped  the  present  markings  more  firmly  than  anyone  else  prior 
to  1883  was  L.  Whittaker  of  Michigan."  Whittaker  was  a  modest 
man,  and  remarked  to  us  in  1910:  "I  never  claimed  to  be  the 
originator."  Whittaker  was,  however,  the  originator  of  our  modern 
Wyandotte.  He  bred  for  "a  large,  round-bodied  bird  with  Sebright 
lacing,  rose  comb,  and  clean  yellow  shanks."  He  bred  for  rose 
combs,  clean  shanks,  and  modern  Wyandotte  type  when  others 
were  breeding  pea  combs  and  feathered  shanks  and  had  no  clear 
conception  of  what  type  should  be  selected.  He  was  the  one  man 
who  brought  order  out  of  chaos. 

Early  popularity.  Two  things  did  much  to  bring  the  Wyandotte 
prominently  before  the  public.  One  was  the  scrambling  for  an 
appropriate  name.  The  other  was  a  Standard  written  for  the  breed 
by  I.  K.  Felch  and  offered  to  the  poultry  fraternity  for  criticism 
and  adoption.  The  Wyandotte,  therefore,  came  forward  as  every- 
body's breed;  all  were  privileged  to  suggest  names  for  their  favorites 
and  all  could  participate  in  criticizing  the  proposed  Standard  and 
shaping  the  ideals  for  their  breed. 

Moreover,  in  the  words  of  Felch,  "the  breed  is  fortunate  in  the 
position  it  holds,  being  with  the  Plymouth  Rock  the  only  two  breeds 
that  hold  the  middle  ground  between  the  Asiatic  and  smaller  breeds. 
They  grow  two  weeks  quicker  than  the  Plymouth  Rocks,  and  fully 
forty  days  quicker  than  the  Brahmas  and  Cochins,  making  them 
highly  appreciated  by  both  the  farmer  and  the  fancier.  As  show 
birds  they  are  handsome."  Again,  he  said  of  the  Wyandotte,  in  his 
book,  "Poultry  Culture,"  published  in  1885:  "As  a  producer  of 
broilers  to  weigh  four  pounds  to  the  pair  at  twelve  to  thirteen  weeks 
old,  it  has  no  equal.  It  is  more  than  an  average  producer  of  eggs 
of  good  size." 

The  demand  for  Wyandottes  after  the  breed  was  admitted  to 
the  Standard  had  been  enormous.  In  1885  I.  K.  Felch  wrote:  "The 
breed  is  having  a  'boom' — no  other  word  expresses  the  wild  interest 
manifest  in  it." 

Following  the  admission  of  the  Wyandotte  to  the  Standard, 
excitement  reigned  among  the  entire  poultrybreeding  fraternity. 
Those  who  had  been  breeding  the  fowls  under  various  names  fell 
in  line  under  the  caption  of  "Wyandottes"  to  participate  in  the  profits 
and  to  supply  the  great  demand.  All  kinds  of  stock  was  bred  and 
sold — good,  bad  and  indifferent.  Anything  that  had  any  semblance 
to  a  Wyandotte  was  sold  at  a  good  profit.  The  result  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  inferior  specimens  brought  disaster,  the  public  becoming 
disappointed  with  the  results  from  the  stock  foisted  upon  it,  and 
many  beginners  who  would  have  made  good  future  breeders  were 
killed  in  the  embryo.  Quite  naturally,  reaction  then  set  in,  and  only 


180 


THE  AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


the  courageous,  sincere,  constructive  breeders  weathered  the  storm 
and  brought  out  better  Wyandottes  at  the  end  as  a  result  of  restricted 
sales  and  small  matings. 

Important  developments  in  Silver  Wyandottes.  The  first  Standard 
for  Wyandottes,  as  written  by  Mr.  Felch,  was  evidently  written  for 
Wyandottes  as  they  were,  and  not  as  forward-looking  breeders  hoped 
them  to  be.  It  is  always  important  that  the  Standard  should  set  an 
ideal  to  be  aimed  at.  And  it  is  wholesome  that  breeders  should  aim 
high.  A  Standard  which  merely  described  what  is  a  common  existing 


**»* ,  .    ^      .       ^^  ~*t*ii^'7^fCa*uf3rf^E-?— :-»  i-'  ;v  !_T-"^---  ; 


The  Extreme  Dark  Fad  in  Lacing  as  Bred  by  F.  W.  Lenker,  Killinger,  Pennsylvania. 
The  above  pen  was  illustrated  in  American  Poultry  Journal,  February  issue,  1888. 

type    does    not    lead    to    advancement.     "Without    vision    the    people 
perish." 

Felch's  Standard  allowed  the  breasts  of  cocks  to  be  broken  black 
and  white  in  color.  It  was  on  this  point  that  Joseph  Wallace 
remarked: 

We  may  be  wrong  in  our  opinion,  but  we  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  breed 
was  especially  designed  from  the  start  to  be  laced;  that  the  lacing  should  be  as  near 
like  that  of  the  Silver  Laced  Sebright  Bantam  as  it  possibly  could  ;  that  it  is  the 
intention  of  the  majority  of  the  breeders  to  keep  them,  distinctly  laced;  that  they 
should  not  resemble  either  the  Dark  Brahma  or  Silver  Spangled  Hamburg  in  plumage, 


SILVER   LACED   WYANDOTTES  181 

nor  alike  in  the  blending  of  penciling  and  spangles.  Although  they  show  a  closer 
resemblance  to  the  one  or  the  other  in  the  silvery  white  color  of  head,  hackles,  breast, 
saddle  and  tail  coverts,  with  the  objectionable  light  straw  color  that  lessens  the 
value  of  one,  and  was  an  original  fault  with  the  other. 

Feathers  on  shanks  and  penciled  centers  in  the  lacing  continued 
to  be  persistent  faults,  showing  the  trace  of  Dark  Brahma  blood; 
while  white  in  ear  lobes  and  blue  in  shanks  were  unmistakable  indi- 
cations of  the  Hamburg  cross. 

After  laced  breasts  became  the  established  character  of  the  Silver 
Laced  Wyandotte  males,  the  next  point  to  develop  was  the  wing  bar. 
The  wing  coverts  which  form  the  wing  bars  were  commonly  span- 
gled, and  open-centered  lacing  in  these  feathers  added  a  beauty  fea- 
ture to  the  birds.  Largely  through  the  efforts  of  the  late  T.  E.  Orr 
the  Standard  was  changed  at  Indianapolis  (1888)  to  call  for  a  laced 
wing  bar. 

The  spangling  had  come  from  the  Hamburg.  The  Dark  Brahma 
had  also  stamped  the  new  race  with  its  tendency  to  penciling,  and 
what  is  known  as  mossiness — that  is,  irregular,  dark  penciling  appear- 
ing in  the  feathers  and  destroying  the  pure  white  open  centers — was 
a  common  fault.  Instead  of  breeding  clean  centers,  breeders  sought 
the  easier  plan  of  closing  up  the  centers  by  breeding  a  very  heavy, 
broad  black  band  of  lacing  on  the  feather.  In  some  instances  the 
white  center  was  so  small  that  it  was  little  more  than  a  white  shaft 
in  the  feather.  This  color  type  was  the  prevailing  fashion  in  1888. 

English  blood.  The  centers  were  again  opened  out  to  "medium 
centers,"  but  it  was  late  in  the  nineties  before  the  pronounced  open- 
laced  birds  began  to  appear.  These  really  open-laced  birds  were 
imported  from  England.  English  breeders  had  been  attracted  to 
the  Wyandotte,  and  with  the  skill  of  Silver  Sebright  bantam  breed- 
ers, unhampered  by  predetermined  opinions,  the  tendency  of  a  buying 
public,  or  the  prejudice  of  judges,  they  had  started  in  to  open  up 
the  lacing  and  breed  for  big  white  centers  finely  edged  with  black. 
The  English  sacrificed  other  points,  but  produced  beautiful  open  lacing. 

A  Mr.  Cochran,  of  Long  Island,  who  had  judged  at  the  Madison 
Square  Garden  show,  was  one  of  the  first  to  show  this  wide-open 
English  lacing.  It  was  about  1900  when  Cochran  exhibited  birds  of 
this  kind.  At  about  the  same  time,  J.  C.  Jodrey,  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Henry  Steinmesh,  of  St.  Louis,  also  secured  English  blood. 
Steinmesh  and  Jodrey  exchanged  birds  and  were  quite  prominent 
in  the  breeding  of  Silver  Wyandottes  for  a  number  of  years. 

Other  breeders  secured  English  blood,  including  F.  A.  Houdlette, 
who  went  to  England  in  1899  and  purchased  a  cockerel  from  Spencer 
Brothers.  F.  L.  Mattison,  of  South  Shaftsbury,  Vermont,  sent  to 
the  Rev.  Comberholme  in  England  and  paid  $160  for  a  cock.  The 
infusion  of  the  English  blood  into  the  American  flocks  did  more  than 
anything  else  to  produce  the  big,  open,  clean  lacing  seen  in  the 


182 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


American  birds  of  today.     It  also  stamped  the  laced  wing  bar  as  an 
actuality. 

Practically  the  only  point  that  Steinmesh  advertised  for  years 
was  that  his  males  had  laced  wing  bars.  Breeders  and  buyers  cen- 
tered much  attention  on  this  point,  for  they  assumed,  and  correctly, 


First  prize  Silver  Wyandotte  cockerel  and  winner  of  shape 
special,  in  class  of  38  cockerels  at  the  annual  meet  of  the  Silver 
Wyandotte  Club  of  America,  Indianapolis,  Ind.  Bred  by  E.  B. 
Banta,  Indiana. 

that  if  the  wing  coverts  were  laced,  the  breeding  power  of  the  bird 
was  strong  for  the  factor  of  lacing.  For  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  birds 
were  sold  on  the  strength  of  their  wing  bar  lacing,  and  there  was  a 
scurry  on  the  part  of  breeders  to  get  laced  wing  bars. 

The  English  blood,  however,  brought  with  it  certain  defects.    The 


SILVER   LACED    WYANDOTTES 


183 


English  breeders  had  sacrificed  neck  color  in  the  females,  and  their 
best  laced  birds  had  dark,  smutty  necks.  They  had  emphasized 
lacing  to  such  an  extent  that  their  males  were  bred  with  lacing  from 
throat  down  the  breast  to  the  thigh  and  into  the  small  feathers 
around  the  hock,  and  in  judging  the  male  was  turned  forward  so 


First   Prize   Silver  Wyandotte  Hen  at  Indianapolis,   1920.      Bred  by 
A.    &   E.   Tarbox,    Illinois. 

that  his  great  sheet  of  lacing  from  throat  to  hocks  would  presenr 
itself  to  the  eye  and  show  off.  The  result  was  that  a  big,  long  bird 
\vas  bred  so  that  he  would  have  a  great  length  for  laced  feathers 
between  the  wattles  and  the  shanks.  This  threw  the  English  Wyan- 


184  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

dottes  out  of  shape — when  an  American  judge  looked  at  them  side- 
ways, and  American  judges  are  keen  on  the  profile  view.  The  English 
also  were  enabled  to  sacrifice  back  and  tail,  for  they  looked  at  the 
lacing  of  their  males  on  the  front.  The  result  was  a  brassy  back 
and  little  striping  in  many  of  the  English  males.  The  English  blood, 
therefore,  had  to  be  employed  judiciously,  that  the  American  breeder 
might  hold  the  good  already  existent  in  his  flock,  and  at  the  same 
time  amalgamate  the  remarkable  lacing  of  the  English  birds. 

Sebright  lacing.  American  breeders  as  a  whole  have  never  bred 
as  extreme  open  lacing,  with  as  narrow  an  edging  of  black,  as  have 
the  English.  We  are  today  producing  a  larger  individual  feather 
than  formerly,  which  makes  the  lacing  larger.  We  are  producing  a 
feather  that  is  laced  with  a  narrow,  lustrous  greenish-black  lacing 


Silver  Sebright  Bantams.  Lacing  has  been  their  prin- 
cipal point  of  attractiveness  for  more  than  a  century.  They 
are  the  true  open-laced  birds,  being  laced  in  tail,  whereas  a 
Silver  Wyandotte  is  black  in  tail  like  a  Dark  Brahma. 

that  conforms  to  the  edge  of  the  feather.  But  the  true  Sebright 
lacing  which  the  English  produced  is  not  possible  with  us,  because 
of  our  traditions.  We  hold  to  black  wing  primaries  that  are  white 
only  on  the  lower  edges;  we  demand  a  tail  that  is  black.  The 
Sebright's  wing  flights  and  tail  are  white,  evenly  and  distinctly  laced 
with  a  narrow  edging  of  black,  just  as  is  its  breast. 

In  our  Silver  Wyandottes  we  also  demand  a  silvery  white  neck 
that  has  a  black  stripe  in  the  center  of  each  feather,  of  which  the 
shaft  is  white.  The  Sebright  has  a  neck  that  is  white,  laced  with 
black  the  same  as  in  its  breast.  The  striped  neck  of  our  Silver  Wyan- 
dottes, the  black  flights,  the  lustrous,  greenish-black  tail,  are  an 
inheritance  from  th§  Park  Brahma.  Unless  the  breeder  stops  short 


SILVER   LACED    WYANDOTTES  185 

of  the  extreme  open  lacing  of  the  Sebright  he  will  lose  soundness 
of  color  in  wings  and  tails.  A  balance  must  therefore  be  found,  and 
an  extreme  reached  in  neither  direction,  for  sound  wings  and  tails 
are  of  no  value  without  lacing;  and  according  to  our  Standard,  the 
most  pronounced  Sebright  lacing  does  not  make  a  perfect  bird  if  it 
fails  in  wing  and  tail. 

Mossiness  in  the  tail  coverts  is  an  old  fault  inherited  from  the 
penciled  Brahma.  Frostiness,  that  is,  a  marginal  tracing  of  white 
outside  the  black  lacing,  is  another  fault  all  breeders  should  seek  to 
eliminate.  Brass  or  straw  color  on  the  back  and  wing  bows  of  the 
males  is  also  a  defect  which  more  commonly  shows  in  the  late  summer 
and  fall,  just  before  the  molt.  Males,  not  females,  show  brass. 

Proper  matings.  Tt  is  desirable  to  breed  from  hens  that  have 
molted  sound.  Sometimes  an  open-laced  pullet  will  molt  in  mossy 
feathers  on  her  back.  Sound  hens  are  doubly  valuable.  Take  an 
oval  center  instead  of  a  pointed  one  every  time.  If  the  back  of  the 
female  is  open  laced,  but  the  centers  run  out  a  little  on  the  breast, 
the  edging  on  the  breast  not  being  quite  sound,  you  have  reasonably 
good  material  to  work  with.  Now  find  a  male  that  is  fairly  well 
<triped  with  black  in  the  back,  and  in  the  center  of  whose  stripes 
are  open,  diamond  shaped,  silvery  white  centers.  Have  him  laced 
ns  well  on  the  wing  bar  as  possible.  Have  his  breast  soundly  edged 
with  black.  The  breast  lacing  should  not  splash  out  in  the  lower 
breast.  If  the  lacing  on  the  breast  fails  at  all.  let  it  be  in  medium 
sized  centers.  Such  a  mating  will  produce  a  high-class  lot  of 
cockerels  and  pullets. 

AYhenever  possible,  breed  birds  that  have  a  large  feather.  The 
larger  the  feather,  the  larger  the  lacing.  Lacing  is  the  beauty  of 
the  variety.  It  is  hard  to  get  too  much  lacing,  provided  you  retain 
a  solid  black  edging  on  the  feather — not  a  weak  or  brown-black 
lacing.  Do  not  mate  two  light  under-colored  birds  together.  You 
must  have  a  measure  of  slate  under-color  to  feed  the  black  in  the 
plumage  and  produce  sound  edging,  sound  wings  and  tail. 

If  the  females  have  small  centers  and  rather  heavy  black  edging, 
a  good  mating  is  made  by  securing  a  male  with  large  breast  feathers 
which  are  openly  laced,  even  though  the  lacing  runs  out  a  little  in 
the  lower  breast  as  a  result  of  the  white  being  somewhat  too  excessive 
to  be  held  within  black  bands.  Such  a  male  may  be  a  little  light  in 
under-color  of  hackle  and  saddle.  If  you  insist  on  dark  under-color 
in  both  sexes,  you  will  be  forced  into  double  mating,  for  nature  does 
not  readily  produce  the  open  lacing  of  a  Sebright  with  the  under- 
color of  a  Dark  Brahma. 


CHAPTER   XIV 
GOLDEN    LACED    WYANDOTTES 

A  richly  colored  fowl  of  pronounced  vigor — Originated  from  a  Silver 

Wyandotte  base — Progress  that  has  been  made  in  the  color  of  Golden 

Wyandottes — Improvement  in  type — How  to  mate 

The  Golden  Wyandotte  has  from  the  beginning  been  a  fowl  of 
unusual  vigor.  Some  people  have  held  an  unverified  but  traditional 
theory  that  a  black-red  fowl  is  naturally  strong.  Such  are  the  colors 
of  that  progenitor  of  the  domesticated  races,  the  jungle  fowl. 

It  has  also  been  said  that  black  and  red  are  easier  colors  for 
the  breeder  to  handle  than  are  black  and  white.  T.  E.  Orr,  who 
bred  both  Silver  and  Golden  Wyandottes,  was  the  first  to  comment 
on  the  relative  facility  with  which  the  two  varieties  could  be  bred; 
and  while  he  was  more  prominent  as  a  Silver  breeder,  he  spoke  of 
the  feasibility  with  which  black  and  red  could  be  handled.  Fewer 
breeders  of  the  first  rank,  however,  have  bred  Golden  Wyandottes; 
while  a  long  list  of  able  breeders,  including  many  of  the  most  capable 
that  America  has  known,  have  been  attracted  to  the  Silver  Wyandotte. 

The  Golden  Laced  Wyandotte  is  a  duplicate  of  the  Silver  Laced, 
done  in  black  and  red.  In  the  Silver,  the  ground  color  of  the  laced 
feather  is  white,  which  is  laced  with  a  narrow  band  of  black;  in  the 
Golden,  the  ground  color  of  the  laced  feather  is  golden-bay,  which 
is  laced  with  a  similar  edging  of  black. 

The  initial  popularity  of  the  Wyandottes  led  to  a  multiplication 
of  varieties,  and  continued  popularity  of  the  breed  accounts  for  the 
increase  in  the  members  of  the  Wyandotte  family.  The  Golden  was 
the  second  variety  of  the  breed  to  be  presented  to  the  public.  It 
was  accepted  as  a  Standard  variety  in  1888. 

Origin.  The  early  Golden  Wyandotte  carried  at  least  half  the 
blood  of  the  original  Silver  Wyandottes  as  bred  by  L.  H.  Whittaker, 
of  Michigan.  They  were  originated  by  Joseph  McKeen,  of  Omro, 
Winnebago  County,  Wisconsin.  In  1879  Mr.  McKeen  procured  sev- 
eral sittings  of  American  Sebright  eggs  from  Whittaker.  He  already 
has  some  crossbred  fowls  which  he  called  Winnebagoes.  These 
Winnebagoes  had  been  started  about  seven  years  previous,  when 
McKeen  had  let  a  family  named  O'Neil  have  some  Buff  Cochin  and 
Golden  Sebright  bantam  eggs.  The  chickens  that  the  O'Neils  raised 
fiom  these  eggs  were  allowed  to  run  together. 

A  few  years  later,  McKeen  found  that  the  O'Neils  had  some 
"Buff  Cochins  with  yellow  legs,  rose  combs,  light  leg  feathering,  and 
a  slight  show  of  lacing  on  some  specimens."  McKeen  secured  some 
of  these  buff  hens  and  mated  to  them  a  cockerel  that  had  been  pro- 

186 


GOLDEN  LACED  WYANDOTTES         187 

duced  by  a  Partridge  Cochin-Brown  Leghorn  cross.  This  was  the 
foundation  blood  of  the  Winnebago  fowl.  The  males  of  this  stock 
were  large  black-red  fowls.  "Some  of  the  males/'  wrote  McKeen, 
"had  black  breasts,  others  (and  these  pleased  me  the  most)  were 
a  deep  reddish  bay,  all  but  the  tail,  which  was  a  very  shiny, 
greenish-black.  They  were  rose-combed,  legs  clean  and  yellow." 
The  stock  had  good  size  and  unusual  stamina,  and  from  the  de- 
scription were  similar  to  the  Rose  Comb  Rhode  Island  Red  of 
today.  They  were  free  from  Game  blood — a  point  that  was  overlooked 
by  many  early  breeders  of  Golden  Wyandottes,  who  assumed  that 
the  vigor  of  the  race,  as  well  as  some  features  of  their  type,  must 
have  come  from  Game  blood  in  the  old  Winnebago  fowl. 

In  1880  McKeen  produced  from  this  stock  of  Winnebagoes  "a 
beautiful  cockerel  of  glossy  golden  and  black,  the  golden  predomi- 
nating." He  now  conceived  the  idea  of  crossing  this  cockerel  on 
some  of  the  females  that  he  had  raised  from  the  Whittaker  Silver 
Wyandottes,  or,  as  they  were  then  called,  American  Sebrights. 
McKeen  also  tried  to  produce  what  he  wanted  by  crossing  a  Silver 
male  on  red  Winnebago  females,  but  this  produced  chicks  that 
were  all,  or  nearly  all.  silver  colored.  When  the  Winnebago  male 
was  crossed  on  the  Silver  females,  the  cockerels  came  Silver  and 
the  pullets  Golden.  "Strange,  is  it  not,"  wrote  McKeen,  "how  the 
males  take  the  color  of  the  dam  and  the  females  the  color  of  the  sire?" 

Progress  in  the  variety.  The  male  Golden  Wyandotte  has  con- 
tinued to  exert  a  great  influence  on  his  female  get.  To  illustrate 
this  point,  we  shall  tell  in  some  detail  the  history  of  a  Golden  Wyan- 
dotte pullet  that  was  shown  at  Boston  in  January,  1920.  She  was 
not  awarded  a  prize.  Every  exhibitor  there  saw  her  and  talked  about 
her.  The  judge  is  reported  to  have  said  that  she  "was  first  or  nothing," 
and  then  he  decided  that  her  red  ground  color  was  of  too  rich  a 
shade  of  color,  for  the  Standard  calls  for  "golden  bay."  He  left 
her  out  of  the  ribbons.  Later  in  January  she  won  first  at  the  National 
show  in  Chicago  under  Walter  C.  Young. 

This  pullet  was  bred  by  Ira  C.  Keller.  She  traces  back  to  the 
hen  that  was  first  at  Chicago,  1918,  first  at  New  York,  1919,  and  first 
at  Boston.  1920,  as  a  five-year-old.  This  hen  was  mated  to  a  cock 
that  was  about  as  near  to  Standard  plumage  as  you  can  get — very 
open  in  lacing,  but  strong  in  wing.  Twenty-four  chicks  were  hatched 
from  this  mating  in  1918,  and  Mr.  Keller  had  a  streak  of  luck,  for 
he  not  only  raised  the  whole  twenty-four,  but  fifteen  of  them  were 
pullets  and  nine  were  cockerels.  Every  pullet  was  a  good  one,  not 
a  poor  one  in  the  bunch,  and  they  ran  so  uniform  that  they  were 
like  peas  in  a  pod. 

The  first  pullet  and  the  four  pullets  in  the  first  pen  at  the  club 
show,  Chicago,  1919,  were  from  this  lot;  the  second  pullet  and  the 
four  first  pen  pullets  at  New  York  in  1919  were  also  from  this 


188 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 


brood  of  twenty-four;  and  the  first  and  second  cocks  and  first  and 
fourth  hens  at  the  National  show,  Chicago,  1920,  were  of  the 
twenty-four. 

The  first  pullet  at  Chicago  in  1920,  which  was  unplaced  at 
Boston,  was  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  above  hens.  She  is  a  grand- 
daughter of  the  mother  of  the  twenty-four.  Mr.  Keller  took  eight 
of  her  daughters,  eight  full  sisters  out  of  the  twenty-four  cockerels 


i 


First  Golden  Wyandotte  Cock,  Chicago,  December,   1916. 

and  pullets,  and  mated  them  to  a  partly  related  cockerel  in  1919. 
He  was  a  sharply  marked  fellow,  uniform  in  ground  color.  He  pro- 
duced the  cockerel  at  the  head  of  the  first  pen  at  the  National  show, 
Chicago,  1920,  as  well  as  the  sensational  first  pullet. 

Mr.  Keller  was  the  first  to  lay  especial  emphasis  on  the  impor- 
tance of  open  diamond  shaped  centers  in  the  saddle  feathers  of 
Golden  Wyandotte  male  birds.  He  insisted  years  ago,  as  has  been 
amply  proved  since,  that  the  more  open  you  can  get  the  red  centers 


GOLDEN   LACED   WYANDOTTES 


189 


in  the  black  striping  of  the  male's  back,  the  cleaner  centered  cushions 
you  can  get  in  your  female  progeny.  As  a  result  of  well  laced,  open 
centered  males,  it  is  not  necessary  to  do  so  much  double  mating 
any  more.  The  lines  are  being  brought  closer  together.  The  combs 
of  this  variety  are  also  much  improved;  and  the  flat  backed  and 


A    New    York    and     Boston     Prize-Winning    Golden    Wyandotte    Hen. 

Owned   by    Ira    C.    Keller,    Ohio — Grandmother   of 

First  Pullet,   Chicago,  January,    1920. 

long  tailed  males  are  passing  out,  and  rounder  bodied  birds  of  good 
Wyandotte  shape  are  filling  the  Golden  classes. 

The  richer  ground  color  in  pullets  is  something  ahead  of  the 
Standard.  Perhaps  no  judge  should  be  criticized  for  enforcing  the 
Standard  requirements,  and  yet  it  is  a  fact  that  the  Standard  is  never 
progressive;  the  breeders  must  run  ahead,  must  make  the  advance- 


190  THE   AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

ments,  and  the  Standard  makers  can  then  come  up  and  recognize  each 
improvement  as  an  established  fact.  The  Keller  pullet  is  of  a  rich 
bay,  as  against  the  golden  bay  of  the  Standard,  and  what  made  her 
color  show  off  to  such  good  advantage  was  the  metallic  green-black 
lacing.  Otherwise,  the  plumage  would  not  have  had  the  same  luster. 

The  richer  tone  of  red  ground  color  is  a  feature  to  be  desired. 
At  the  New  York  state  fair,  September,  1920,  Melvin  F.  Uphoff,  of 
New  Jersey,  showed  a  pullet  that  was  the  sensation  of  the  class. 
She  won  first  and  had  a  rich  red  ground  color,  open  laced  in  every 
section  and  edged  with  a  sound  black  lacing. 

Improvement  in  type.  There  has  been  a  great  change  in  the  type 
of  Golden  Wyandottes.  In  1900  the  females  had  the  length  of 
Plymouth  Rock  females,  not  typical  Wyandotte  females.  The  males 
were  frequently  unsightly  because  of  large,  loose  combs.  The 
males  also  had  too  much  length,  their  backs  were  too  long,  and  their 
tails  projected  beyond  their  backs  like  the  tails  of  Rhode  Island 
Red  males.  In  the  summer  of  1905  Theo.  Hewes  wrote:  "The  writer 
has  found  but  few  birds  of  this  variety  that  filled  the  shape  require- 
ment, while  many  of  our  winning  specimens  would  come  nearer  the 
Plymouth  Rock  description,  quite  a  few  of  them  even  reaching  the 
Java  type,  especially  in  females." 

At  the  New  York  show  of  December,  1907,  we  saw  for  the  first 
time  a  Golden  Wyandotte  cock  that  was  a  wonderfully  modeled 
Wyandotte.  There  were  no  big  combs,  shallow  breasts  and  long 
backs  among  the  birds  in  that  historic  class.  The  first  cock,  shov/n 
by  Charles  H.  Brundage,  of  Danbury,  Connecticut,  had  a  tail  that 
was  short  and  bushy,  and  his  breast  was  round.  This  cock  again 
was  first  at  New  York  in  1908,  and  again  as  a  four-year-old  at  New 
York,  1909-10.  Since  that  time  the  true  Wyandotte  type  has  been 
more  and  more  in  evidence  in  the  Golden  variety  both  in  the  east 
and  the  west. 

We  believe  that  all  of  the  eastern  birds  were  from  the  same  original 
McKeen  stock,  as  were  the  western  flocks,  although  it  should  be 
said  that  about  the  same  time  that  McKeen  started  to  make  his 
Golden  Wyandottes,  the  idea  of  such  a  variety  occurred  to  two  east- 
ern breeders,  and  Jacob  Ryder,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  W.  E.  Shedd, 
of  Massachusetts,  also  brought  out  Golden  Wyandottes.  It  is  our 
opinion,  however,  that  the  good  type  seen  in  Golden  Wyandottes 
today,  both  east  and  west,  is  due  to  selective  breeding  rather  than 
to  different  elements  entering  into  the  early  origin  of  different 
strains,  for  undoubtedly  the  McKeen  stock  was  the  broad  foundation 
on  which  all  modern  strains  of  the  variety  take  their  root. 

Mating.  This  variety  can  be  single  mated  to  better  advantage  than 
its  counterpart,  the  Silver  Wyandotte.  Slate  under-color  and  black 
markings  in  wings  are  more  common  to  the  Golden  Wyandotte  than 
to  the  Silver.  When  you  aim  too  strongly  and  too  surely  for  these 


GOLDEN   LACED   WYANDOTTES 


191 


points  in  the  Silver,  double  mating  becomes  inevitable.  But  with 
slate  under-color  and  sound  wings,  a  practicability  in  the  Golden,  the 
question  is  simplified  to  one  of  producing  lacing. 

To  hold  the  rich  bay  ground  color,  a  weak  under-color  should 
not  be  tolerated.  The  quill  of  a  hen's  back  feathers  should  be  of  the 
same  shade  of  color  as  the  web;  otherwise,  shaftiness  appears.  With 
these  faults  in  mind  let  us  select  the  males  and  females  to  be  mated 
together. 

Get  females  with  as  much  bay  in  the  center  of  the  neck  stripe  as 
possible;  at  least  the  quill  should  be  bay.  If  solid  black  stripes  are 
bred,  the  cockerel  progeny  will  have  dark  neck  hackles  that  appear 
almost  black  on  the  lower  surface  of  the  hackle.  This  shawl  effect 
is  always  undesirable  in  good  males. 

Now  select  a  male  that  has  a  saddle  striped  with  black,  and  be 
sure  that  in  the  center  of  each  black  stripe  there  is  a  big,  open, 
diamond  shaped  bay  center.  Have  the  bird  laced  well  in  wing  bow, 
and,  if  possible,  up  on  the  wing  bows,  on  the  little  feathers  under 
the  wing,  under  the  shoulder,  and  on  the  thighs.  These  are  all  indi- 
cations of  a  bird  that  has  been  bred  well  for  lacing. 

If  the  lacing  on  the  breast  of  the  hens  runs  out,  be  sure  that  the 
male  has  sound  breast  lacing  and  is  as  free  as  possible  of  a  marginal 
edging  of  red  around  the  outer  side  of  the  feathers. 


.Golden  Wyandottes  as  Pictured  About  1900. 


192 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF    POULTRY 


PI  ROT. -U 
SECOND, 

AMD 
THIRD 
PRIZE 


I  MADISON 
I    5QVAR& 


CHAPTER   XV 
WHITE  WYANDOTTES 

The  Whites  appear  as  sports  of  the  original  Silver  Wyandotte — The 
early  breeders — How  A.  C.  Hawkins  bought  up  almost  all  the  stock 
in  the  country  and  started  a  boom  on  the  variety — Well-known  breed- 
ers down  to  the  present  day — Defects  found  in  the  variety — How  to 
mate  White  Wyandottes — Washing  for  the  show 

White  Wyandottes  were  recognized  as  a  Standard  variety  in  1888, 
but  from  the  earliest  history  of  the  Silver  Wyandotte,  white  speci- 
mens had  occurred  in  the  best  flocks.  Perhaps  these  white  chicks 
traced  back  to  the  White  Cochin  blood  that  Fred  A.  Houdlette  knew 
to  exist  in  his  strain  of  Silver  Wyandottes.  In  some  cases,  however, 
the  white  sports  were  not  bred  pure,  for  according  to  I.  K.  Felch, 
,  these  "nearly  white  specimens"  of  the  Silver  Wyandotte  "were 
mated  to  Rose  Comb  White  Leghorns  and  the  progeny  offered  as 
White  Wyandottes." 

Theo.  Hewes  has  told  of  the  mating  of  Rose  Comb  White  Dork- 
ings on  Silver  Wyandottes  to  produce  White  Wyandottes.  The 
writer,  however,  as  late  as  1904  saw  white  sports  in  a  well  bred 
yard  of  Silver  Wyandottes  (the  yard  of  Ed  Hungerford,  Concord, 
Michigan),  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  original  Wyan- 
dotte offered  a  fertile  field  for  the  propagation  of  the  White  variety. 

Early  history.  J.  H.  Drevenstedt,  an  authority  on  the  Wyan- 
dottes, states  that  some  breeders  had  begun  to  exploit  the  white 
sports  "as  early  as  1885  as  a  promising  new  color  type  of  Wyan- 
dotte." The  names  of  three  breeders  came  out  prominently  in  this 
connection  —  Messrs.  Fred  A.  Houdlette,  of  Massachusetts,  and 
George  W.  Towle  and  B.  N.  Briggs,  of  New  York  state.  The  white 
chicks  were  at  first  considered  culls  by  the  Silver  breeders.  They 
were  the  first  to  go  into  the  pot.  But  about  the  time  the  Silver 
Wyandotte  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  a  Standardised  (1883),  the 
white  chickens  were  given  serious  attention.  They  soon  enjoyed  a 
great  boom.  Towle  and  Briggs  were  principally  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing the  variety  to  the  favorable  attention  of  the  public. 

A.  C.  Hawkins,  of  Lancaster,  Massachusetts,  who  was  a  leading 
breeder  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  and  Silver  Wyandottes,  now 
became  interested  in  the  new  White  Wyandottes  and  nearly  cornered 
the  market  on  them.  This  phase  of  the  breed's  early  history  is  told 
in  the  following  article  written  by  Mr.  Hawkins  for  the  Reliable 
Poultry.  Journal  of  December,  1905: 

Thirty-three  years  ago,  in  1872,  in  the  little  town  of  Truxton,  New  York,  the 
first  White  Wyandottes  of  which  there  is  any  record  were  hatched  from  Silver 

193 


194  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

Wyandotte  eggs.  A  year  earlier  George  H.  Towle,  of  Trtixton,  obtained  a  trio  of 
American  Sebrights,  afterwards  named  Wyandottes  and  later  Silver  Wyandottes. 
During  the  spring  of  1872  there  appeared  among  his  broods  several  pure  white  sports. 

Mr.  Towle  mated  these  white  birds  together  the  'following  season  and  they  bred 
true  to  color  with  the  blocky  Sebright  type.  They  had  the  orange  yellow  legs  and 
skin  of  the  American  Sebright,  also  the  creamy  tinge  of  plumage,  making  them  an 
ideal  fowl  for  the  market. 

These  white  fowls  were  bred  in  their  purity  by  Mr.  Towle  and  his  relatives  until 
1885,  when  George  A.  Preston,  of  Binghamton,  New  York,  purchased  several  pens 
of  them  and  advertised  them  largely  in  the  poultry  press. 

I  became  interested  in  their  merits,  and  one  pleasant  morning   in  the  spring  of 


Well  modeled  White  Wyandotte  cock  at  head  of  2d 
prize  pen,  Boston,  Jan.,  1920.  Bred  by  Sabrina  Farm,  Arthur 
H.  Shaw,  prop,,  Arthur  G.  Duston,  supt,  Massachusetts. 

1886  I  landed  in  Binghamton  and  was  taking  a  quiet  look  at  Mr.  Preston's  birds 
before  breakfast.  Mr.  Preston  showed  me  his  books  with  the  many  sales  of  stock 
and  eggs  he  was  making,  and  within  an  hour  I  owned  the  entire  stock  and  they 
were  shipped  to  Lancaster. 

That  same  night  I  registered  at  a  hotel  at  Truxton,  New  York,  and  the  follow- 
ing morning  was  on  the  warpath  for  every  White  Wyandotte  in  the  town.  Before 
night  every  bird  was  shipped  and  I  was  the  owner  of  practically  all  the  White 
Wyandottes  in  the  country.  With  the  liberal  use  of  printers'  ink  there  was  caused 
a  great  demand  for  eggs  and  .stock,  and  the  first  boom  in  the  now  far-famed  White 
Wyandottes  was  on. 

The    practical    merits    of    this   popular    fowl    soon    became    known    in    all    parts    of 


WHITE   WYANDOTTES  195 

the  country,  and  the  demand  for  breeding  stock  was  greater  than  the  supply  for 
several  years. 

When  these  fowls  were  admitted  to  the  Standard  and  they  became  a  study  for 
the  fancier,  the  snow  white  plumage  took  the  place  of  the  creamy  tinge,  until 
today  only  the  whitest  birds  are  of  any  use  in  the  breeding  pens  o-f  the  leading 
fanciers. 

Since  I  began  breeding  the  White  Wyandottes  I  have  made  many  exhibits  at 
such  shows  as  Boston  and  New  York,  with  success,  and  in  the  hands  of  my 
patrons  in  all  parts  of  the  world  my  strain  of  White  Wyandottes  has  carried  off  the 
honors  at  many  of  the  bast  shows.  I  have  sold  many  birds  at  $50  to  $200  each, 
and  a  recent  sale  of  seventeen  White  Wyandottes  for  $850  to  one  of  my  strongest 
competitors  is  convincing  proof  that  the  quality  of  this  strain  is  appreciated. 

In  far-away  Africa,  India,  Australia  and  Xew  Zealand  there  is  an  increasing 
demand  for  White  Wyandottes,  which  gives  evidence  of  their  popularity  in  foreign 


White    Wyandotte    pullet    owned    by    D.     D.    Sullivan, 
Missouri. 

lands.     The   great   numbers  on   exhibition   at  all  the   American   shows   tells  better  than 
words  how   well   they   are   appreciated   by   the   American   fancier. 

A.  G.  Duston  as  a  breeder.  The  next  great  breeder  following 
Hawkins  was  Arthur  G.  Duston,  of  Marlboro  and,  later,  South 
Framingham,  Massachusetts.  Interest  in  the  variety  slumped  a  little 
about  1890,  due  to  so  many  inferior  Silver  Wyandottes  being  sold, 
and  this  reaction  was  reflected  to  some  extent  in  the  White  Wyan- 
dottes. But  the  Whites  were  soon  going  strong  again,  and  Duston 


196  THE    AMERICAN    BREEDS    OE    POULTRY 

came  to  the  forefront  as  their  greatest  champion  and  leading  breeder. 

Taking  up  the  White  Wyandotte  in  connection  with  several  other 
varieties  at  a  time  when  he  was  interested  in  producing  broilers  for 
the  Boston  market,  Mr.  Duston  was  quick  to  appreciate  the  value 
of  the  variety,  and  in  1894  he  began  to  breed  it  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others. 

Mr.  Duston  never  forget  the  utility  of  the  breed.  He  persisted 
in  breeding  a  clean-cut  type  of  Wyandotte.  He  had  the  Standard 
changed  at  the  Rochester  meeting,  years  ago,  to  call  for  freedom 
from  long,  profuse  fluff  feathering  so  that  the  drumstick  of  the  bird 
might  show  a  little. 

In  judging  Wyandotte  males,  he  looked  on  the  shoulders  as  the 
keystone  to  the  arch  of  the  whole  bird.  He  bred  birds  that  carried 
their  shoulders  down,  always  maintaining,  and  rightly  so,  that  when 
the  shoulders  of  a  Wyandotte  are  up,  the  breast  appears  deficient, 
the  back  goes  down,  and  the  symmetry  of  Wyandotte  carriage  is  lost. 

As  proprietor  of  Rose  Lawn  Poultry  Earm,  Mr.  Duston  bred  stay- 
white  plumage  into  his  birds,  put  red  eyes  throughout  his  entire 
flock,  bred  off  the  green  spots  on  shanks.  When  we  visited  his  farm 
in  1912  there  was  not  an  off-colored  bird  on  the  place. 

Arthur  Duston  is  one  of  the  best  conditioners  of  white  fowls  in 
the  east,  and  his  exhibits  at  New  York  always  have  been  beautiful 
examples  of  the  fitter's  art.  The  main  attraction  of  the  White  Wyan- 
dotte class  at  the  December,  1910,  New  York  show  was  the  first 
prize  cockerel  shown  by  A.  G.  Duston.  He  again  won  first  cockerel, 
also  first  pullet,  at  New  York,  1913;  and  first  cockerel,  Boston,  1914, 
was  won  by  one  of  his  customers  on  a  straight  Duston  bird. 

Other  well  known  breeders.  Other  prominent  breeders  in  the 
east  have  been  C.  F.  A.  Smith,  of  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  who  took 
up  the  variety  in  1886,  and  won  best  display  at  Boston,  1900,  and 
first  cock,  first  hen,  first  cockerel  and  first  pullet  at  New  York.  1902; 
George  Dakin,  of  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  who  furnished  the  birds 
to  Ross  C.  H.  Hallock  which  won  first  cock,  first  hen,  first  cockerel 
and  first  pullet  at  New  York,  1905;  W.  R.  Graves,  Charles  Nixon, 
J.  W.  Andrews,  J.  H.  Jackson,  George  H.  Pollard,  A.  J.  Fell,  F.  B. 
Williams,  T.  E.  Orr,  Edgar  Briggs,  M.  F.  Delano  and  A.  H.  Shaw. 

In  the  west,  the  more  prominent  breeders  have  been  J.  C.  Fishel 
and  his  son,  Charles  Fishel,  Charles  V.  Keeler,  George  H.  Rudy, 
H.  J.  Riley,  Ira  C.  Keller,  Charles  E.  Cram,  W.  S.  Beebe,  H.  H.  Fike, 
F.  J.  Wehrmeyer,  L.  J.  Demberger,  D.  D.  Sullivan,  Fred  E.  Pile,  A.  H. 
Emch,  Otto  O.  Wild,  Dr.  W.  H.  Humiston,  A.  J.  Smith  and  Ross 
C.  H.  Hallock. 

Canada  has  also  contributed  her  share  of  great  breeders  to  this 
popular  variety,  and  the  names  of  John  S.  Martin  and  Sid  Saunders 
are  well  known  to  breeders.  Indeed,  John  Martin  has  gone  further 
than  any  other  breeder  of  White  Wyandottes  in  all  America  in  build- 


WHITE    WYANDOTTES 


197 


ing  up  a  great  breeding  establishment,  and  his  customers  are  located 
in  every  state  of  the  Union  as  well  as  in  every  province  of  the  Do- 
minion. The  success  of  Mr.  Martin  may  be  attributed  to  sound  busi- 
ness principles  applied  to  poultry  selling  and  the  fact  that  he  has 
persistently  bred  a  well  balanced  type  of  White  Wyandotte  regard- 
less of  what  extremes  might  be  the  fashion  of  the  hour. 

The  western  breeders,  too,  including  Keeler,  Demberger,  Sullivan 
and  Fishel  have  kept  their  stock  conspicuously  free  from  injurious 
types.  All  prominent  eastern  breeders  of  today  have  also  given  up 
the  overly  short  bodied  type,  and  breeders  as  a  whole  have  so  com- 
pletely come  together  on  what  should  constitute  a  good  specimen  of 
the  variety,  that  there  is  little  opportunity  for  fads  or  hobbies  to 
again  enter  into  our  own  show  rooms. 

Modern  White  Wyandottes.  The  popularity  of  the  White  Wyan- 
dotte has  been  remarkable.  At  the  St.  Louis,  Louisiana  Purchase 


Pair  of  White   Wyandottes  owned  by   Chas.   V.    Keeler,    Indiana. 

Exposition,  1904,  there  were  808  White  Wyandottes  exhibited.  This 
record  has  never  been  equaled  by  any  one  variety  of  any  breed.  At 
the  New  York  and  Boston  shows  of  1905  there  were  more  White 
Wyandottes  entered  than  any  other  variety.  It  was  about  this  time 
that  T.  E.  Orr  penned  his  famous  phrase:  "A  Wyandotte  should 
emphatically  be  a  bird  of  curves."  The  quest  for  curves  then  entered 
into  the  breeding  operations  to  an  extent  that  led  some  breeders  to 
shorten  the  backs  of  their  females  to  the  point  of  sacrificing  egg 
production.  Extremely  short  birds  were  found  among  the  winners 
at  New  York  about  1911-12.  This  abnormally  short  type  is  now  in 
the  discard  and  breeders  have  returned  to  the  true  Wyandotte  form 
as  not  only  the  most  showy  but  the  infinitely  more  practical. 


198 


THE  AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


No  fowl  has  been  more  plas- 
tic in  the  hands  of  breeders  than 
the  White  Wyandotte,  and  so 
much  thought  has  been  bestow- 
ed upon  it  by  men  of  great  abil- 
ity that  the  Whites  have  led  all 
other  Wyandotte  varieties  in 
shape.  The  birds  of  no  breed 
are  as  intelligent  as  are  White 
Wyandottes.  They  are  an  ideal 
fowl  for  the  fancier.  As  a  com- 
mercial fowl,  they  feather  ra- 
pidly, reach  broiler  size  quickly 
and  are  always  in  a  plump  con- 
dition. They  have  made  high 
records  as  layers.  In  short,  their 
popularity  is  justified  for  it  is 
grounded  in  merit. 

Defects  found  in  White  Wy- 
andottes and  how  to  mate  to 
overcome  them.  It  should  be 
the  aim  of  the  breeder  to  com- 
bine pure  white  plumage  and 
Standard  shape,  and  competition 
is  so  keen  nowadays  that  he  cannot  afford  to  fall  far  short  of  the 
actual  accomplishment. 

The  start  should  be  made  with  good  birds  that  have  generations 
of  good  breeding  behind  them.  They  should  not  only  be  of  a  well 
established  family  of  the  variety,  but  the  immediate  parents  of  the 
birds  should  be  in  the  hands  of  a  careful  breeder  who  has  not  toler- 
ated the  infusion  into  his  flock  of  the  blood  of  a  single  mediocre  indi- 
vidual. 

The  beginner  can  then  be  sure  that  no  green-shanked,  or  white- 
lobed  or  feathered  legged  specimens  will  show  in  his  crop  of  young 
stock.  These  are  all  marks  of  inferior  pedigree.  Neither  will  the  begin- 
ner, if  he  gets  high-class  stock  which  is  today  "stay-white,"  have  to 
struggle  with  that  persistent  old  fault  of  brassy  necks  and  backs  in  his 
males. 

Of  course  each  variety  has  its  characteristic  faults  which  must  be 
considered  and  controlled  or  the  stock  will  "run  out."  One  of  the  most 
important  features  to  watch  is  the  shape  of  the  head.  The  head  should 
be  round,  broad  across  the  skull  and  the  eye  should  be  clear.  A  pullet 
showing  a  narrow  skull  and  long  head  should  be  immediately  condemned 
to  the  pot.  To  breed  such  a  female  will  result  in  a  production  of  cock- 
erels long  in  leg.  angular  in  back,  pinched  in  tail  and  high  in  breast.  The 
round  head  is  a  controlling  feature  in  the  variety. 


A  Typical  White  Wyandotte  Male  Head. 
The  head  is  broad,  eye  intelligent,  beak 
nicely  curved,  comb  fits  the  head,  wattles 
well!  rounded,  ear  lobes  of  proper  shape 
and  soft  texture.  The  head  of  the  Wyan- 
dotte is  a  study  in  itself.  It  is  the  most 
intelligent  head  possessed  by  any  breed  of 
chickens. 


WHITE    WYANDOTTES 


199 


To  produce  typical  males,  large  females,  good  in  head,  well  feathered 
in  back  and  with  well  spread  tails  should  be  used.  A  Wyandotte  male 
of  excellent  type  but  a  little  small,  which  is  a  combination  frequently 
found,  will  prove  to  be  an  excellent  mate  for  such  hens. 

Never  breed  a  hen  that  has  a  brassy  hackle.  Never  breed  a  long- 
legged  bird.  If  your  flock  is  producing  birds  with  green  eyes,  introduce 
a  red-eyed  male  at  once.  Do  not  breed  a  bird  that  carries  considerable 
black  flecking  or  ticking  throughout  its  plumage.  Black  ticking  is  not 
as  common  as  formerly  but  it  still  shows  to  a  limited  extent  in  the 
whitest  birds.  But,  do  not  encourage  it  by  breeding  a  bird  that  carries 
a  conspicuous  amount.  Neither  should  a  bird  be  bred  that  carries  a  partly 
black  feather  in  wing  or  tail. 

The  whitest  males  are  those  that  as  young  cockerels  grow  a  plumage 
that  is  distinguished  by  pink  colored  quills.  If  yellow  corn  is  fed  in 
quantities  to  young  White  Wyandottes  it  will  have  a  tendency  to  make 
their  plumage  creamy  colored.  After  the  feather  is  grown,  however, 
yellow  corn  will  not  affect  its  color. 

An  occasional  single  comb  sport  appears  in  flocks  of  White  Wyan- 
dottes. Such  a  bird  should  be  culled.  A  smooth  fitting,  nicely  pebbled 
rose  comb  is  highly  desirable.  Do  not  breed  the  comb  too  smooth  or  too 
small  or  the  stock  will  lose  vigor,  lay  fewer  eggs,  and  give  lower  fertility. 
However,  a  large,  loose  fitting,  heavily  pointed  rose  comb  is  unsightly 
and  unnecessary.  Of  all  things,  never  breed  a  White  Wyandotte  the 
second  time  that  gives  poor  fertility. 

Washing  for  the  show.  White  Wyandottes  must  be  washed  for 
the  poultry  show,  and  the  pro- 
cedure is  well  worth  carrying 
out.  Competition  in  these  days 
is  so  keen,  that  only  well  groom- 
ed birds  are  considered  for  high 
honors  by  the  judges. 

Three  tubs  of  water  are  ne- 
cessary for  the  process.  Fill  one 
tub  with  water  rather  warm  to 
the  touch.  Fill  a  tub  with 
warm  water.  Fill  a  tub  with 
water  that  has  had  the  chill 
taken  off. 

Hold  the  bird  firmly  about  the 
shanks  with  one  hand,  and  put 
the  other  hand  over  his  wings. 
Immerse  him  in  tub  No.  1. 
Take  him  out,  lay  him  on  a 
table,  holding  shanks  firmly, 

and    soap    him    with    Lux.      Im-         _, 

.  K  Typical    White    Wyandotte    cock    owned 

merse  m  tub  No.   1.      Now  lay  on      by   Sabrina    Farm,    Massachusetts- 


200  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

board  and  soap  again.  If  using  Ivory  soap,  take  soft  brush  and  rub 
across  bar  of  soap,  then  rub  soaped  brush  the  way  of  plumage. 

Dip  brush  in  water  and  use  as  much  soap  and  water  as  necessary. 
Work  soapy  water  clear  to  skin.  Brush  with  lay  of  feathers.  Brush  from 
head  to  short  feathers  around  hock  over  back,  and  turning  bircf  over, 
soap  and  brush  breast.  Open  wings  and  brush  out  wing  feathers. 

Immerse  in  tub  No.  1  and  soak  out  soap.  Lift  bird  to  tub  No.  2, 
immerse  and  rinse.  Open  wings  in  water ;  open  tail  with  hand,  in  water. 
Get  out  all  soap.  Lift  to  tub  No.  3.  Rinse  again  in  the  clean  water  of 
this  tub,  working  and  rinsing  feathers  in  every  section,  so  that  when 
bird  drys,  feathers  will  be  snowy  white,  and  not  sticky  with  soap. 

Lift  from  tub  No.  3  and  set  bird  on  table.  Press  out  water  from 
neck,  back,  breast  and  legs.  Dry  wings  and  tail  with  towel,  being  careful 
to  open  out  tail  and  not  press  it  together  and  warping  its  natural  shape 
while  feathers  are  wet.  Put  bird  in  coop  on  broad  roost  in  temperature 
of  90  degrees. 

The  chalky  condition  of  the  plumage  of  your  birds  may  be  due  to  the 
character  of  the  feather  your  birds  carry.  A  great  many  White  Wyan- 
dottes  carry  feathers  that  are  rough  and  soft. 

A  White  Wyandotte  to  wash  well  must  carry  a  hard  surface  feather. 
Some  strains  of  birds  have  not  a  hard  surface  feather  on  them.  It  may  be 
that  your  stock  is  from  some  breeder  who  has  not  developed  the  proper 
character  of  feather. 

If  you  will  wash  the  birds  with  Lux  and  soft  water  and  then  put  them 
ou'.side  to  dry,  the  plumage  should  fluff  out  and  prove  to  be  hard  and 
smooth.  If  it  does  not,  the  character  of  the  feather  is  probably  at  fault. 

In  the  winter  it  is  of  course  necessary  to  dry  indoors  in  a  tem- 
perature of  90  degrees  or  a  little  more.  For  fall  shows,  the  birds  may 
be  dried  outdoors  in  the  open  air  and  sunshine. 

We  would  suggest  that  you  try  washing  a  bird  or  two  in  August, 
putting  it  outdoors  in  a  wire  coop  or  cage  to  dry. 

In  order  to  get  the  legs  nice  and  clean  we  would  scrub  them  with 
soap  and  water  and  then  with  lard  and  gasoline,  then  with  more  soap 
and  water,  and  then  take  a  toothpick  and  pick  the  dirt  out  from  under  the 
scales,  finishing  by  putting  on  a  little  oil  and  rubbing  with  a  woolen  rag. 
In  scrubbing  shanks  with  soap  and  water,  lard  and  gasoline,  use  a 
brush.  Use  same  treatment  for  face,  comb  and  wattles,  except  that 
you  should  employ  a  cloth  instead  of  a  brush  for  these  skin  areas. 

The  shanks  will  be  real  yellow  if  the  birds  are  on  grass  range  and 
fed  a  fair  amount  of  yellow  corn.  The  shanks  are  lighter  if  the  birds  are 
grown  in  confinement  on  barren  runs.  However,  a  rich  yellow  shank 
is  not  as  important  as  formerly. 


CHAPTER   XVI 
BUFF  WYANDOTTES 

Wonderful  improvement  made  in  this  variety   since  the  early   days — 
The  originators — Breeding  buff  color — The  Standard  color — Points  to 

consider  today 

No  variety  of  the  Wyandotte  breed  has  shown  more  progressive 
development  than  the  Buff.  The  early  birds  carried  black  wings  and 
tails;  frequently  they  were  striped  with  black  in  the  hackle;  the  under 
color  was  usually  defective,  and  the  surface  color  of  the  males  was 
reddish  buff,  while  that  of  the  females  was  laid  on  in  patches  of  buff 
of  different  hues.  It  became  necessary  for  a  time  for  breeders  to  lose 
sight  of  shape  and  specialize  in  their  effort  to  produce  buff  color. 

The  early  Buff  Wyandottes  were  a  composite  variety.  They  had  been 
made  by  various  crosses  by  different  breeders.  The  first  work  was  started 
about  1885  when  the  boom  of  the  original  Wyandotte  was  at  its  height. 
The  new  variety  was  admitted  to  the  Standard  in  1893,  and  by  1900  had 
attracted  to  its  ranks  some  of  the  greatest  breeders  in  America.  About 
this  time  shape  began  to  be  given  more  thoughtful  attention,  good  shaped 
birds  began  to  appear,  and  Buff  Wyandotte  breeders  were  of  accord  in 
exclaiming  that  without  Wyandotte  shape,  the  birds  were  without  the 
Wyandotte  class. 

The  originators.  W.  R.  Wooden,  Battle  Creek,  Michigan,  who 
took  up  the  breeding  of  Buff  Wyandottes  in  the  nineties,  made  a  thorough 
examination  of  the  evidence  bearing  on  the  origin  of  the  variety,  and  in 
the  first  year-book  of  the  American  Buff  Wyandotte  Club,  1901,  presented 
the  following  history : 

The  writer  undertook  the  preparation  of  this  article  with  a  degree  of  confidence 
that  must  have  been  born  of  the  mother  of  presumption.  What  seemed  at  its  com- 
mencement a  light  and  easy  task  has  become  a  burden  beyond  the  time,  patience 
and  persistence  of  the  ordinary  man  of  business.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  breed- 
ers are  prone  to  make  no  record  of  new  and  experimental  matings,  much  that  would 
throw  light  upon  this  subject  is  buried  in  vague  remembrance.  No  one  individual 
can  consistently  claim  credit  of  producing  or  originating  the  Buff  Wyandotte.  That 
honor  is  to  be  divided  among  several  breeders  who  were  simultaneously  working  to 
accomplish  a  certain  end,  though  in  most  instances  through  different  channels.  The 
first  effort  of  which  the  writer  has  been  able  to  obtain  an  accurate  date  was  made 
by  W.  N.  Nicholoy,  of  Newark,  New  York.  In  1885  he  mated  Buff  Cochins  and 
Golden  Wyandottes  to  produce  a  Buff  Wyandotte,  and  followeil  up  with  a  series 
of  matings  and  crosses  that  produce  one  of  the  noted  strains  of  the  present  day. 
In  1894  Mr.  Nicholoy  exhibited  Buff  Wyandottes  at  Madison  Square  Garden  show 
and  won  first  breeding  pen  and  the  society  bronze  medal  for  the  best  exhibit  of  the 
variety,  besides  first,  second  and  third  on  single  birds. 

About  the  time  that  Mr.  Nicholoy  began  his  efforts  to  produce  the  new  variety, 
and  certainly  not  later  than  1886,  George  H.  Brackenbury,  of  Auburn,  New  York, 
started  a  series  of  matings  and  crossings  that  soon  produced  most  excellent  results. 

201 


202  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

By  crossing  White  Wyandottes  with  Golden  Wyandottes  he  produced  what  he  desig- 
nated as  cream  Buffs,  with  white  tails  and  wings.  These  were  bred  back  to  Buff 
Cochins,  and  the  product  of  the  latter  cross  was  bred  to  the  product  of  a  Buff  Cochin- 
Golden  Wyandotte  cross.  Thus  Mr.  Brackenbury  produced  his  best  Buffs,  and  with 
a  liberal  percentage  of  clean  shanks.  The  Golden  Wyandotte  seems  to  have  been 
liberally  used  by  him  to  eliminate  feathered  shanks.  As  early  as  1888  Mr.  Bracken- 
bury  had  succeeded  in  producing  birds  of  surprisingly  fine  color  and  good  Wyandotte 
shape.  His  efforts  continued  from  1888,  largely  in  conjunction  with  work  along  the 
same  line  by  Clarence  J.  Reddig,  of  Pennsylvania,  until  1894  or  1895,  when  he  sold 
his  flock. 

During  the  eighties  the  following  gentlemen  each  produced  Buff  Wyandottes  by 
crossing  Golden  Wyandottes  with  Buff  Cochins:  Messrs.  J.  H.  Drevenstedt,  J.  O. 
Joslin  and  Clarence  J.  Reddig.  Charles  P.  Pond  is  reported  to  have  produced  a 
strain  by  crossing  Golden  Wyandottes  to  White  Wyandottes  and  then  back  upon 
the  Goldens. 

While  the  efforts  above  recorded  were  being  made,  R.  G.  Bufnngton,  of  Fall 
River,  Massachusetts,  was  working  along  a  different  line  to  produce  the  same  results. 
Having  sold  Silver  Wyandottes  to  farmers  in  his  vicinity,  to  be  crossed  for  com- 
mercial purposes  with  Rhode  Island  Reds  (a  mongrel  mixture  with  probably  Asiatic 
and  Mediterranean  bloods),  he  was  surprised  to  find  among  them  fairly  good  Rose 
Comb  specimens.  The  males  were  red,  although  fair  colored  females  were  found. 
All  had  black  in  hackles  and  black  tails.  This  stock  was  bought  and  in  1892  or 
1893  exhibited  in  New  York  and  sold  at  long  prices. 

Messrs.  Brackenbury  and  Nicholoy  had  kept  silent  regarding  their  effort,  intend- 
ing to  further  perfect  the  variety  before  placing  it  upon  the  market.  The  mongrels 
from  New  England  farms  had,  however,  stolen  a  march  upon  them,  and  for  a  time 
bore  the  credit  of  being  the  first  Biuff  Wyandottes. 

Breeders  were  quick  to  discover  the  advantages  of  commingling  this  Fall  River 
strain  with  those  produced  through  the  help  of  the  Buff  Cochin,  and  the  flocks  of 
today  are  undoubtedly  the  result  of  that  combination. 

The  different  breeders  of  this  variety  have  from  time  to  time  corrected  defects 
or  improved  their  flocks  by  the  introduction  of  blood  from  others,  until  there  is  a 
similarity  between  them  that  partakes  of  a  strong  family  resemblance.  The  rapid 
stride  into  popularity  by  the  Buff  Wyandotte  exceeds  that  of  any  other  fowl  before 
the  American  people.  It  was  soon  learned  that  it  had  all  the  advantages  of  other 
varieties  and  many  fine  characteristics  peculiar  to  itself.  The  low  rose  comb,  with 
full  breasted,  blocky  shape,  characteristic  of  the  Wyandotte  family,  has  become 
permanently  fixed  in  the  variety,  and  in  addition  to  other  qualities,  has  inherited 
the  winter  laying  features  of  its  Cochin  ancestry. 

In  color  it  has  had  one  great  advantage  over  the  balance  of  the  family,  in  being 
strictly  within  the  pale  of  fashion.  Buff  is  one  of  the  most  popular  colors,  either  in 
poultry  yard  or  show  room,  and  has  been  so  for  a  long  time  and  bids  fair  to  con- 
tinue for  years  to  come. 

During  the  show  season  of  1900  and  1901  the  Buff  Wyandotte  class  was  one 
of  the  largest  at  all  the  great  shows.  At  Philadelphia,  Boston,  New  York  and  Chicago 
the  class  was  one  of  the  prominent  features  of  the  shows.  In  each  instance  exceed- 
ingly fine  specimens  were  exhibited.  Fanciers  marvel  at  the  perfection  in  both  shape 
and  color  attained  in  so  short  a  time. 

This  popularity,  so  strong  and  well  established,  must  have  something  stronger 
than  whim  or  notion  for  its  foundation,  and  can  be  accounted  for  only  by  merit, 
and,  based  upon  merit,  this  popularity  must  become  permanent.  This  variety  does 
not  contain  all  the  good  in  fowldom,  but  so  much  of  the  good  can  be  found  in  it 
that  for  years  to  come  one  of  the  first  upon  the  list  of  grand  varieties  will  be  the 
Buff  Wyandotte. 

Breeding  buff  color.  Master  artists  in  breeding,  blended  the  red 
and  white  and  black  of  the  early  buffs  into  the  rich,  golden,  soft-toned 
buff  of  today.  The  names  that  will  always  remain  indelibly  linked  with 
the  history  of  the  variety  are  those  of  C.  S.  Mattison,  Mr.  Dutcher, 


BUFF    WYANDOTTES  203 

Andrew  Riddell,  L.  C.  Piser,  and  Warren  T.  Lord.  They  drew  an  imagi- 
nary line  between  light  buff  and  reddish-buff,  and  then  they  bred  across 
this  line,  selecting  specimens  not  far  removed  from  it  on  either  side. 
They  eliminated  the  dark  and  light  specimens  as  wasters ;  and  the  breeder 
of  today  will  find  that  the  beautiful  buff  will  disappear  unless  he  also 
breeds  for  buff  and  selects  out  for  disposal  every  bird  that  shows  a 
turning  out  of  line.  Let  a  dark  bird  be  bred  and  the  flock  will  soon  run 
to  black  and  red.  With  the  same  neglect  a  flock  can  run  to  white. 

On  this  question  of  mating,  E.  R.  Durand  of  Toronto,  Canada,  con- 
tributed a  valuable  article  to  the  Canadian  Poultry  Journal,  which  is  as 
follows : 

To  put  an  even  shade  of  golden  buff,  the  most  attractive  of  all  colors,  on  a 
true  Wyandotte  body,  the  most  graceful  of  all  types,  is  an  effort  that  will  always 
stimulate  the  sporting  instinct  of  the  fancier. 

It  would  be  a  pleasure  for  the  writer  to  describe  step  by  step  the  gradual 
development  of  the  Buff  Wyandotte  ifrom  the  "good  old  days"  until  now ;  from 
the  years  when  every  shape  and  color  was  offered  for  the  judge's  decision,  until 
today  when  the  best  exhibitions  demonstrate  that  the  Buff  Wyandotte  is  being  bred 
closer  to  the  splendid  type  of  the  White  variety  than  any  other  kind  of  Wyandotte. 
But  suffice  it  to  say  that  the  leading  breeders  have  striven  for  type  and  are  getting 
it,  after  years  of  study,  so  that  today  one  can,  by  judicious  selection  of  his  founda- 
tion, produce  beautiful  typy  stock  from  the  beginning.  To  sum  up  the  type  of  our 
male,  let  us  ask  this  question:  "If  he  were  white,  would  he  look  like  a  good  Wyan- 
dotte?" If  the  answer  is  "yes,"  he  will  do  for  the  breeding  pen,  always  remember- 
ing that  females,  no  matter  how  good,  cannot  correct  the  influence  of  a  tight,  short- 
featured  or  gawky  male.  The  cockerels  from  such  a  mating  will  be  useless  and  the 
pullets  not  so  good  as  the  hens  from  which  they  came. 

But  our  male  is  not  to  be  white.  He  is  buff,  and  many  wiseacres  will  ask  pro- 
foundly, "What  is  buff?" 

Buff  is  the  most  fascinating,  the  most  attractive  and  elusive  color  on  the  plumage 
of  domestic  fowls.  It  is  clean  at  all  stages  of  growth.  A  flock  of  buffs  will  cause 
the  casual  passerby  to  stop  and  look,  where  he  would  have  gone  his  way  without 
a  second  glance  at  many  flocks  whose  color  demands  a  knowledge  of  Standard  points 
to  be  appreciated. 

Some  dictionaries  describe  buff  as  a  light  yellow.  One  calls  it  buff — the  color 
of  buffalo,  and  gives  as  an  example  English  oak-tanned  leather.  Thus  we  may 
arrive  at  the  basic  shade,  which  the  Standard  amplifies  by  describing  it  as  rich 
and  golden.  There  are  many  shades  of  gold,  but  the  world  standard  for  gold  is 
still,  glory  be,  the  English  guinea.  So  here  we  have  our  buff  with  a  golden  hue 
and  rich,  meaning  that  there  is  plenty  of  gold  in  it.  There  iv.ay  be  several  degrees 
of  buff  color,  and  the  exact  shade  is  o'f  less  importance  than  evenness,  which  should 
be  the  ideal.  Once  attained,  it  is  no  longer  illusive,  for  it  can  be  fixed  on  the  flock 
by  means  of  our  line  of  sires. 

Breed  from  buff  that  has  life  in  it. 

When  a  male's  top  color  is  so  he  has  sheen.  We  must  not  stop  there, 
however,  but  match  him  in  every  section.  His  neck  and  back  should  show  no 
joining  line  of  different  shades,  nor  should  his  breast  show  any  contrast  with  the 
hackle  except  for  the  metallic  sheen  on  the  latter.  In  fact,  tail,  wings  (folded  or 
open),  body  and  fluff — all  of  him  should  be  of  the  same  even  basic  shade. 

In  under-color  otir  male  will  show  his  strength  to  transmit  his  color  to  his 
offspring.  The  richer  it  is,  the  better.  It  will  be  weakest  under  the  hackle,  at  base 
of  neck,  base  of  tail,  and  base  of  breast.  If  it  is  good  in  all  these  sections  he  will 
be  "a  find." 

Now  note  his  quills.  If  they  are  of  a  lighter  shade  than  the  web  of  the  feather 
it  is  called  "shafting"  where  it  shows  on  the  surface.  We  will  never  entirely  elimi- 
nate shafting  in  our  females  until  we  produce  males  without  it,  especially  in  breast 


204 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 


and  body,  for  it  is  this  part  of  his  plumage  that  corresponds  to  the  female  coloring. 
If  he  is  not  shafted  in  breast,  he  will  seldom  if  ever  be  shafted  elsewhere. 

Test  the  male's  strength  of  surface  by  searching  for  mealiness  in  the  wing 
fronts  and  wing  coverts.  Mealiness  consists  of  what  appears  to  be  a  fine  powdering 
of  white  over  the  buff.  At  a  distance  it  may  look  like  very  even  buff.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  difficult  defects  to  throw  off,  and  needs  a  strength  of  rich  color  in  the 
male  to  override  it,  and  even  then  it  will  take  years. 

White  anywhere  should  not  be  tolerated.      Space  is  too  valuable  to   go  into   the 


Sensational  Buff  Wyandotte  cock  shown  at  Chicago,  Dec.,  1919, 
by  Ralph  ^turdevant,  Illinois.  His  grandsire  won  1st  as  a  cockerel 
at  Boston. 


scientific  details  of  this,  but  white  is  a  weakness  in  the  color  pigment  which  you 
are  trying  to  fix,  and  will  ruin  any  flock.  Mealiness  is  the  beginning  of  a  tendency 
toward  white.  This  should  suffice.  Black  is  an  entirely  different  matter.  It  is  a 
Standard  defect,  but  it  i&  a  sign  usually  of  strength  of  color,  and  Orpington  breeders 
who  have  tolerated  it  in  years  past  when  Wyandotte  breeders  were  howling  against 
it,  have  attained  wonderful  color  in  their  birds.  We  do  not  like  to  see  it  in  the 
wings,  but  a  little  black  in  the  tail  is  a  small  defect,  and  it  is  always  safe  to  have 


BUFF    WYANDOTTES  205 

a  few  such  birds  as  a  reservoir  of  strength.  The  wear  and  tear  of  breeding  tends 
to  make  buff  come  lighter  each  year,  unless  means  are  at  hand  to  hold  the  shade 
desired.  Breeding  year  after  year  from  buff  without  the  black  to  hold  it  will  finally 
cause  the  color  to  fade  to  lemon,  and  the  white  in  wings  and  main  tail  will  at  last 
begin  to  show. 

Females  should  always  be  of  good  general  type  and  shape,  with  size  and  bone. 
Alert,  well  curved  pullets,  with  plenty  of  room  in  them  for  egg  organs,  should  be 
the  aim.  They  are  the  layers.  Some  of  our  best  show  females  are  also  our  best 
layers. 

We  want  broad  backs,  flat  at  the  shoulders ;  and  we  also  want  well  spread 
Wyandotte  tails. 

A  good  head  on  a  female  means  a  good  body,  and  the  general  remarks  about 
color  apply  to  her  as  well.  The  male  will  correct  color  that  is  slightly  uneven, 
especially  if  due  to  improper  molting.  Hens  .free  from  mealiness  or  white  in  any 
part  of  the  plumage  will  be  corrected  by  the  male  if  of  the  same  approximate  shade. 
Try  to  have  them  as  smooth  as  possible  in  this  respect,  however.  Do  not  use 
females  of  an  entirely  different  shade  to  the  male.  If  they  are  the  same  color,  or 
slightly  darker,  they  will  be  better  than  if  too  light.  On  the  other  hand,  they  may 
be  light  owing  to  age,  and  this  should  be  considered  when  mating.  Good  judgment 
and  knowledge  of  what  has  gone  before  must  always  be  used.  Hens  with  dark  necks 
and  light  bodies  will  not  be  bettered  if  the  neck  is  stronger  than  the  color  of  the 
male.  Books  could  be  written  on  color  and  color  breeding,  and  most  know  more 
about  what  not  to  do  than  what  to  do. 

The  Standard  color.  A  splendid  description  of  buff  was  written 
for  the  Standard  of  1898.  Breeders  and  judges  appreciated  at  that  time 
the  need  of  reducing  to  definite  terms  exacty  what  was  wanted,  and  the 
Standard  description  as  then  written  has  been  abridged  but  never  modified. 
The  1898  description  was  as  follows : 

Surface  color  throughout  one  even  shade  of  rich  golden  buff,  free  .from  shafting 
or  mealy  appearance;  the  head,  neck,  hackle,  back,  wing  bows  and  saddle  richly 
glossed  with  metallic  luster.  Under-color,  a  lighter  shade,  as  free  as  possible  from 
all  foreign  color.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  specimen  showing  the  richest  under- 
color shall  receive  the  preference.  Black  or  white  showing  in  wings  or  tail  shall 
be  considered  alike  objectionable.  Specimens  showing  different  shades  of  buff  in 
neck,  back,  wings  or  breast,  or  in  two  or  more  of  these  sections  on  either  male  or 
female,  shall  be  considered  a  serious  defect.  One  harmonious  blending  of  buff  in  all 
sections  is  most  desirable. 

Better  color  in  females  needed.  Good  Buff  Wyandotte  males  pre- 
sent a  beautiful  sheet  of  buff  color,  but  good  females  are  rarely  seen 
any  more.  The  best  buff  females  of  the  golden  days  of  1910-11  had 
edging  on  each  feather.  It  added  brilliancy  to  the  plumage.  The 
laced  birds  were  free  from  shafting,  and  not  darker  but  brighter  in 
color  as  a  result  of  the  brilliant  edging. 

The  breeders  of  Reds  had  some  of  this  lacing.  The  majority  of 
the  buff  and  red  breeders  wanted  to  get  away  from  it.  Lester  Tomp- 
kins  said  at  the  time  that  he  would  rather  have  lacing  than  some 
other  things.  He  didn't  think  it  was  much  of  a  defect.  The  buff 
men,  however,  particularly  the  Buff  Wyandotte  breeders,  have  suc- 
ceeded in  eliminating  the  brilliant  edging.  We  would  like  to  see 
some  of  the  rich  golden  buffs  back  to  take  the  place  of  some  of  the 
hens  and  pullets  that  are  being  shown  today.  These  hens  particu- 
larly are  patchy  and  mealy. 

In  order  to  produce  level  colored  females,  more  attention   should 


206  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

be  given  to  the  breast  color  of  the  male.  It  should  be  free  from 
light  colored  quills,  called  shafting;  it  should  be  free  from  whitish 
lacing;  and  it  should  be  as  nearly  as  possible  of  the  shade  of  color 
desired  in  the  females.  Moreover,  ancestry  is  of  fundamental  impor- 
tance, and  a  male  to  be  a  good  breeder  of  females  should  not  merely 
be  a  good  individual  himself,  but  his  dam  should  have  been  a  smooth, 
level  colored  hen. 

The  breeders  of  Buff  Orpingtons  are  today  producing  a  wonder- 
ful coat  of  buff  plumage  on  both  sexes,  and  a  few  points  on  how 
these  breeders  are  handling  the  color  should  be  of  value  to  Buff 
Wyandotte  men. 

William  Hobbs,  of  Buff  Orpington  fame,  mates  a  Standard  col- 
ored male  to  Standard  colored  females  to  produce  good  pullets  in 
Buff  Orpingtons.  He  can  use  a  male  a  tone  rich  in  color,  mated  to 
females  with  medium  light  hackles,  to  produce  good  colored  males. 
Of  course,  the  tones  of  color  indicated  above  present  comparatively 
slight  differences.  "Light"  and  "rich"  to  a  breeder  accustomed  to 
lots  of  quality  do  not  mean  lemon  and  red.  When  extremes  are 
mated  together  the  produce  shows  patchiness  and  unevenness. 

M.  F.  Delano  can  mate  rather  strong  colored  females  to  Standard 
males  and  produce  good  cockerels  in  Buff  Orpingtons.  On  the  breed- 
ing of  pullets,  the  following  illustration  will  be  of  interest.  Mr. 
Delano  imported  a  light  buff  cockerel  that  won  first  at  New  York, 
1906.  His  white  did  not  show  at  New  York,  but  he  was  such  a  soft 
shade  of  color  that  he  quickly  got  white,  and  it  almost  showed  on 
the  surface  of  his  hackle.  He,  however,  was  the  sire  of  the  first  prize 
pullets  at  New  York,  Cleveland  and  Chicago  the  next  year.  The 
club  show  was  at  Cleveland  and  there  was  tremendous  competition. 
The  bird  sired  a  number  of  beautiful  pullets. 

It  is  the  Buff  Wyandotte  females  that  require  the  extra  study. 
These  hens  with  good  hackles,  even  though  patchy  in  back  color, 
will  produce  good  males;  but  better  females  can  be  produced  only 
from  males  with  brighter,  higher  toned  breast  color,  even  though 
they  fail  in  some  other  sections.  If  this  fact  is  grasped,  we  can  look 
for  Buff  Wyandotte  females  the  rival  of  any  other  buff  colored  fowls 
in  the  whole  category  of  breeds.  An  ambitious  breeder  can  start 
now  to  produce  what  is  wanted,  outdistance  old  competitors,  and  make 
a  name  for  himself.  Get  the  breast  of  your  male  right,  have  his 
ancestry  on  the  female  side  right,  and  then  overlook  some  minor 
points  in  his  own  individuality,  Such  a  male  will  breed  good  pullets. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
BLACK  WYANDOTTES 

Black   Wyandottes    first    came    as    true    sports    of   the   original    Silver 

variety — Early  history — Mating   Black  Wyandottes — The   difficulty  of 

getting  red  eyes,  yellow  shanks  and  beaks,  and  sound  black  color 

Black  Wyandottes  were  recognized  as  a  Standard  variety  in  1893.  In 
explaining  the  degree  of  popular  favor  that  the  variety  subsequently 
enjoyed,  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  eight  years  which  followed  the 
admission  of  the  Silver  Wyandottes,  before  the  Blacks  were  admitted 
to  the  Standard,  "proved  an  effectual  time  handicap  and  the  popular 
White,  Golden  and  Silver  varieties,  with  the  dozen  and  one  other  at-home- 
and-abroad  distractions  had  completely  absorbed  the  attention  of  breeders." 
The  fact  is,  however,  that  the  status  of  the  Black  Wyandotte  has  been 
due  to  other  factors. 

Shank  and  eye  color  and  its  influence  on  the  breed's  popularity. 
American  judges,  from  the  beginning,  were  insistent  on  demanding  black 
under  color  in  this  variety,  and  sound  black  under  color  and  yellow 
shanks  in  the  same  individual  are  produced  with  great  difficulty.  The 
first  Standard  description,  therefore,  allowed  dark  colored  shanks,  a  char- 
acteristic that  is  not  typically  Wyandotte. 

In  England,  \vhere  surface  color  is  of  major  importance  and  under 
color  of  such  minor  importance  that  notable  male  winners  may  have 
cotton  colored  under  plumage  in  their  hackles,  the  breed  characteristic  of 
yellow  shanks  was  quite  within  the  range  of  practicability,  and  the  Black 
Wyandotte  was  typically  a  Wyandotte,  distinct  at  first  glance  from  the 
black-shanked  Orpington.  Black  Wyandottes  in  England,  therefore,  went 
forward,  until  they  became  second  in  popularity  to  the  Whites.  Indeed, 
at  the  Crystal  Palace,  London,  show  of  1908,  there  were  140  Black 
Wyandottes  exhibited,  which  was  a  larger  total  than  made  by  the 
birds  of  any  other  Wyandotte  variety.  The  English  were  breeding  a 
rich  yellow  shank,  a  yellow  beak  and  a  red  eye,  and  were  laying 
stress  on  a  bright,  lustrous,  greenish-black  surface  color. 

The  English  Black  Orpington  with  its  black  shank  and  black  eye  was 
now  making  great  headway  in  America.  It  was  possible  to  breed  these 
birds  pure  black  in  plumage  and  sound  black  in  under  color  and  they  met 
American  ideals.  Thus  the  road  was  paved  for  the  dark-eyed  and  dark- 
shanked  Black  Wyandottes,  and  birds  of  this  character  enjoyed  a 
run  of  popularity,  splendid  classes  being  seen  at  the  Boston  and 
New  York  shows.  In  1912  there  were  55  Black  Wyandottes  exhibited 
in  competition  at  the  Palace  show.  New  York. 

The  committee  that  had  the  revision  of  the  1915  Standard  in  hand, 
was  influenced  to  change  the  Standard  to  call  for  yellow  shanks  and 

207 


208 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


reddish-bay  eyes.  They  argued  that  all  Wyandottes  should  have  the 
same  breed  characteristics,  and  they  pointed  to  the  popularity  of  the 
variety  in  England  to  justify  their  action.  The  change  was  made.  The 
International  Black  Wyandotte  club  of  America  protested.  They  said 
that  they  could  not  change  their  birds  in  one  year  or  even  two  genera- 
tions, and  they  asked  for  five  years  in  which  to  make  the  change  from 
nearly  black  eyes  to  red  eyes,  and  from  black  shanks  with  bottoms  of 
feet  yellow  to  yellow  or  dusky  yellow  shanks.  No  such  time  allowance 
was  granted  and  the  breeders  of  the  fowl  gave  up  and  passed  out. 

To  make  "confusion  worse  confounded"  the  1915  Standard  called  for 
yellow  shanks,  and  by  an  oversight  there  was  left  in  the  text  the  old 
disqualification  of  "shanks  other  than  black  shading  into  yellow  or  dusky 
yellow."  There  were  no  yellow  shanked  birds  shown  to  disqualify,  how- 
ever, for  breeders  gave  up  in  discouragement. 

Early  history.  It  was  the  attempt  of  the  early  breeders  to  produce 
yellow  shanks  that  retarded  the  progress  of  Black  Wyandottes  in  the 
beginning.  After  much  effort  and  considerable  loss  of  time,  it  was  found 
to  be  impractical  to  attempt  the  production  of  sound  black  under  color 

and  the  same  yellow  shanks 
and  beaks  carried  by  the  other 
varieties  of  Wyandottes.  The 
breed,  therefore,  first  went  in 
the  Standard  with  dark  shanks. 
Wyandottes  that  were  essen- 
tially black  be.-jan  to  appear  as 
early  as  the  White  Wyandottes. 
They  came  from  the  original 
Silver  stock.  Black  chicks  ap- 
peared in  the  yards  of  F.  J. 
Marshall  and  F.  M.  Clemens,  of 
Ohio,  in  1885,  Mr.  Marshall  hav- 
ing a  black  pullet  and  a  cockerel 
that  was  black  in  all  save  wing- 
primaries,  and  Mr.  Clemens 
having  two  black  pullets  and  a 
cockerel  that  was  black  in  all 
save  neck  hackle.  Both  breed- 
ers took  advantage  of  these 
birds  and  bred  them  in  1886. 

Marshall  in  1886  again  bred 
the  mother  of  his  black  sports 
and  produced  five  more  black 
pullets.  He  never  had  another 
mating  of  Silver  Wyandottes  to) 

produce  black  chicks.     But  with 
iand   (Ohio)    Poultry  Show,  January,   1911.  .  c  Q< 

Bred  by   Howard   Grant,   of   Michigan.  the    stock    produced     in     1885-86, 


BLACK  WYANDOTTES  209 

and  from  the  same  mating  again  in  1887  was  enabled  to  breed  his 
blacks  for  several  years  without  the  introduction  of  new  blood;  then 
learning  that  F.  M.  Clemens  of  Mechanicsburg,  Ohio,  was  working  along 
the  same  lines,  exchanged  birds  with  Clemens,  and  continued  to  breed 
and  improve  his  Black  Wyandottes  for  seven  years. 

Clemens,  however,  complained  of  "a  dearth  of  new  blood  to  keep  up 
stamina,"  and  in  1890  took  advantage  of  a  few  black  pullets  of  superior 
size  and  stamina  that  had  been  produced  in  the  yard  of  a  friend  who  was 
breeding  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  and  to  whom  Clemens  had  furnished 
a  Black  Wyandotte  male  for  cross  breeding.  The  cross  had  produced 
barred  ccokerels  and  black  pullets,  and  the  rose  comb  had  proved  its 
dominance.  When  these  big  rose  combed,  black  pullets  were  mated  to  a 
pure  black  Wyandotte  male;  the  progeny  were  75  percent  Black  Wyan- 
dotte and  none  showed  the  factor  for  barring  in  its  plumage.  Mr. 
Clemens  did  much  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  variety  and  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  continued  to  take  a  keen  interest  in  poultry  affairs. 
In  1910  he  sold  his  entire  stock  of  Black  Wyandottes  to  the  late  Frank 
C.  Sites  of  North  Dover,  Ohio. 

The  future.  The  Black  Wyandotte  is  a  fowl  of  excellent  utility. 
In  1904,  T.  E.  Orr  shipped  to  us  in  Ohio  a  setting  of  13  Black  Wyandotte 
eggs  from  his  farm  at  Beaver  Falls,  Pennsylvania,  and  we  hatched  13 
chicks.  Under  the  date  of  June  11,  1904,  Mr.  Orr  wrote  us:  "We  have  a 
Black  Wyandotte  pullet  laying  before  she  is  four  months  old — how  is 
that?" 

With  so  good  a  fowl,  the  future  rests  with  the  breeder.  He  can  today 
breed  Black  Wyandottes  with  yellow  shanks  and  red  eyes  and  "get  away 
with  it."  The  reason  is  that  judges  and  buyers  are  today  riding  the 
hobby  of  under  color  less  than  ever  before.  It  used  to  be  that  before  a 
judge  or  buyer  passed  judgment  on  a  specimen,  he  wanted  to  know  what 
it  was  "like  underneath."  Today  he  is  looking  at  the  bird  as  a  whole  and 
accepting  what  he  sees  as  the  part  that  nature  has  contributed  to  the 
sunlight;  and  the  way  she  builds  up  that  surface  is  more  appropriate 
for  study  than  for  criticism. 

Mating.  If  only  one  yard  of  females  are  employed,  two  males 
should  be  used,  alternating  them  every  third  day.  The  females  should  be 
sound  colored  with  as  red  eyes  and  yellow  legs  as  you  can  get.  One  of 
the  males  used  should  have  bright  yellow  legs,  and  naturally  he  will  fail 
in  having  white  at  the  base  of  his  hackle  and  perhaps  in  the  under  plumage 
over  his  hips.  This  bird  is  selected  primarily  for  his  strength  of  yellow 
pigment.  He  will  produce  fine  pullets.  The  other  male  should  be  selected 
for  strength  of  black  in  his  plumage,  and  naturally  his  shanks  will  run 
a  little  dark  in  color.  He  will  produce  fine  cockerels. 

The  disadvantage  of  this  sort  of  mating  is  that  you  cannot  know  for 
sure  the  sire  of  each  chicken,  and  therefore  it  is  not  possible  to  develop 
a  satisfactory  basis  for  line  breeding.  It  is  therefore  a  practical  mating 
rather  than  a  theoretical  system  of  mating.  Of  course,  it  is  advisable, 


210  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF    POULTRY 

when  possible,  to  divide  the  females  into  two  pens  and  head  each  of  the 
pens  with  a  male,  one  having  as  orange-colored  legs  as  you  can  procure 
and  the  other  male  having  as  sound  black  color  as  is  consistent  with  a 
yellow  leg.  Use  the  brightest  shanked  females  with  the  first  male  and 
the  slaty  shanked  ones  with  the  second  male.  Mating  No.  1  will  breed 
the  best  pullets,  and  Mating  No.  2,  the  best  cockerels. 
As  we  wrote  for  the  Wyandotte  Breed  Standard: 

It  is  the  old  question  of  under  color  versus  surface  color.  The  evidence  is 
invariably  and  definitely  favorable  to  the  possibility  of  combining  pure  yellow  shanks 
with  a  black  surface  color;  it  is  when  the  black  is  carried  down  to  the  skin  that  the 
shanks  are  dark.  Let  the  breeder,  therefore,  remember  and  be  encouraged  by  the 
fact  that  Black  Wyandottes  in  American  shows  may  now  have  slate  under-color. 
"Slate"  is  defined  by  the  lexicographer  of  this  text  as  "synonymous  with  gray,"  and 
gray  is  a  color  between  white  and  black.  And,  lastly,  the  breeder,  instead  -of 
taking  -up  old  prejudices  of  the  fancy,  should  consider  the  wild  birds,  those  marvels 
of  the  alchemy  of  Nature,  whose  surface  plumage  is  painted  with  the  brush  of  a 
Master  Hand,  and  whose  under-color  comes  as  it  will,  always  serving  in  subordina- 
tion or  to  help  forward  and  promote  the  perfection  of  the  surface  color.  In  the 
theory  of  natural  selection,  color  of  the  under-plumage  has  no  place,  for  it  can  exert 
no  direct  influence  on  the  instinct  and.  preference  of  the  species,  and  therefore  nature 
is  able  to  concentrate  her  fforts  in  the  production  of  a  beautiful  and  harmonious 
surface  color.  The  surface  is  the  beautiful  part  of  a  bird,  anyway. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 
PARTRIDGE   WYANDOTTES 

A  handsome  variety  of  pronounced  utility  value — The  early  work  of  the 
originators — The  name  "Partridge"  adopted  after  a  long  controversy — 
The  great  improvers  of  the  variety — Fad  for  dark  birds — Orange  colored 
hirds  wanted  in  England — The  bright  red  males  at  last  win  out — correct 
color  for  both  male  and  female — Double  mating — Possibilities  of  single 

mating. 

A  good  Partridge  Wyandotte  male  is  one  of  the  most  handsome 
fowls  in  the  whole  array  of  breeds.  Its  comb,  wattles  and  ear  lobes 
are  neat  fitting  and  red  in  color.  Its  breast,  body  and  tail  are  lus- 
trous, greenish  black.  Its  neck  and  back  are  of  a  bright  red,  and 
through  the  center  of  each  neck  and  back  feather  there  runs  a  bright 
black  stripe,  making  the  entire  sheet  of  top  plumage  over  the  breast 
and  back  of  gorgeous  color.  In  the  female  the  plumage  is  rich 
reddish  brown,  and  in  each  feather  there  are  two  or  more  distinct 
pencilings  of  black.  On  the  wing  bows  the  feathers  are  small  and 
there  are  two  and  occasionally  three  bands  of  black;  on  the  back  the 
feathers  are  large  and  there  are  three  and  sometimes  four  bands  of 
black.  In  a  good  female,  particularly  a  hen — for  pullets  often  im- 
prove in  plumage  markings  as  hens — the  penciling  is  distinct  and 
the  sharp  lines  of  black  are  laid  on  as  if  painted  by  a  magic  hand  in 
the  alchemy  of  nature. 

Every  great  breeder  has  the  color  scheme  of  his  variety  simplified 
in  his  mind.  He  mates  with  success  because  the  whole  subject  is 
reduced  to  simple  terms.  The  young  breeder  should  likewise  learn 
to  understand  how  the  beautiful  color  contrasts  are  secured,  and  not 
look  at  the  bird  as  an  intricate  whole,  the  details  of  which  are  difficult 
to  master.  Let  us  build  up  a  Partridge  Wyandotte  in  our  imagina- 
tion. We  shall  have  to  proceed  as  an  artist  would  build  up  a  bird 
on  canvas.  First  we  must  have  the  outline  of  a  Wyandotte  male. 
Now  we  paint  in  a  bright  red  neck  and  a  red  back;  we  then  paint 
in  a  black  breast,  body  and  tail;  and  at  last  we  take  a  finer  brush, 
mix  the  black  paint  thick  so  that  it  will  not  run.  and  with  infinite 
pains  we  put  a  black  stripe  through  the  center  of  each  neck  and 
back  feather,  stopping  before  the  tip  end  of  the  feather  is  reached. 
Again,  in  the  female  we  draw  an  outline  of  a  fine  Wyandotte;  then 
we  color  it  all  over  with  rich  reddish  brown,  and  then  carefully  draw 
the  crescentic  lines  of  black  penciling  in  each  feather. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  secure  good  shape  in  this  Wyandotte.  No 
variety  of  Wyandotte  produces  cockerels  truer  to  type,  and  none 
produces  cockerels  whose  tails  are  more  abundantly  covered  with 

211 


212  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF  POULTRY 

lesser  sickles  and  coverts.  This  wealth  of  tail  plumage,  each  feather 
bright  greenish-black,  is  a  glorious  feature  of  the  Partridge. 

Bringing  out  the  variety.  The  Partridge  Wyandotte  is  not  the 
product  of  a  novice.  It  is  the  worthy  development  of  master  breed- 
ers. Today  the  making  of  new  varieties  is  largely  in  the  hands  of 
beginners  who  are  incompetent  to  breed  and  who  therefore  experi- 
ment, while  the  great  breeders  are  improvers  of  the  existing  breeds 
and  varieties;  but  when  this  writer  was  a  boy,  a  large  number  of  the 
truly  great  breeders  were  devoting  themselves  to  the  making  of 
varieties.  The  Partridge  Wyandotte  came  from  the  hands  of  such  men. 
Pride,  sentiment  and  idealism  entered  into  their  work. 

They  did  not  do  their  work  because  they  thought  that  large  profits 
would  accrue  to  them  as  payment  for  their  labors.  It  was  a  labor 
of  love,  and  the  reward  has  been  one  of  joy  in  having  brought  forth 
something  new,  something  better,  something  more  beautiful. 

These  old  breeders  were  more  interested  in  writing  Standards 
of  Perfection  than  they  were  in  selling  chickens,  more  interested  in 
defining  their  ideals  and  reaching  out  for  these  ideals  than  in  making 
money.  As  early  as  1896,  two  of  the  originators  of  Partridge  Wyan- 
dottes — Joseph  McKeen,  of  Omro,  Wisconsin,  and  E.  O.  Thiem,  of 
Vail,  Iowa — prepared  a  standard  for  the  variety,  and  it  was  published 
as  a  leading  feature  in  the  April,  1896,  issue  of  American  Poultry 
Journal.  It  was,  however,  stated  in  this  article  that  neither  of  them 
offered  stock  or  eggs  for  sale  that  spring. 

What  was  one  of  their  Partridge  Wyandotte  cockerels  worth? 
What  was  eight  pounds  of  bone,  muscle  and  feathers  worth?  Ah, 
the  bird  you  inquire  about  represents  more  than  what  you  see  in 
him.  While  an  artist  could  now  at  his  leisure  make  a  photograph 
of  the  bird,  the  time  was  when  a  camera  with  the  fastest  shutter  could 
not  have  recorded  it,  could  not  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  it,  for  only 
the  breeder-artist  saw  the  vision  of  its  ideal  form  and  finished  coat 
of  plumage.  The  breeder  who  produced  that  specimen  has  waited 
with  patience  for  the  seasons  to  come,  and  from  year  to  year  has 
carried  the  germ  of  life  through  the  stage  of  embryonic  development, 
through  the  period  of  actual  growth,  and  then  the  cycle  has  turned 
on  to  the  season  of  reproduction  and  his  ambition  has  been  kindled 
anew,  and  he  has  mated  with  thought  and  judgment  and  tried  again. 
There  have  been  matings  that  have  failed,  parasites  that  have  threat- 
ened to  arrest  the  growth  of  young  stock;  the  elements  of  heat  and 
rain  through  which  the  chicks  have  been  successfully  carried,  and 
in  winter  the  boots  have  sometimes  seemed  heavy  and  the  snow 
seemed  extra  deep.  N 

If  you  were  to  buy  this  bird,  the  product  of  this  breeder's  labor — 
this  finished,  living,  breathing  picture  that  stands  within  his  yards 
— the  price  that  you  could  pay  would  be  in  terms  of  dollars.  The 
price  the  breeder  paid  was  in  terms  of  life.  He  cannot  surrender 


PARTRIDGE  WYANDOTTES 


213 


a  product  so  costly  until  he  is  privileged  to  use  the  specimen  in 
the  line  of  life  that  he  is  building;  until  his  line  of  breeding  is  so 
well  developed  that  a  single  bird  is  only  an  expression  of  the  tend- 
encies in  that  line  and  the  line  itself  can  go  on  and  on  producing 
individuals  of  equal  symmetry  of  form  and  perfection  of  feather. 

While  the  originators  could  offer  no  stock  for  sale  in  the  spring 
of  1896,  surplus  birds  began  to  leave  their  yards  later  on,  and  these 
birds  were  so  well  bred,  the  foundation  had  been  so  well  laid,  that 
the  sales-stock  reproduced  itself  in  fine  order,  and  by  1901  the  variety 
was  so  well  distributed  and  the  birds  produced  were  so  true  to  type 
and  color  that  the  Partridge  Wyandotte  was  accorded  recognition 
as  a  Standardbred. 

The  originators.  Partridge  \Vyandottes  were  developed  simulta- 
neously in  the  east  and  in  the  west.  Discussion  on  the  priority  of 
origin  has  resulted  in  giving  precedence  to  neither  the  eastern  nor 
the  western  strain.  The  "facts"  and  "dates"  on  origin  as  recorded 
in  some  treatises  on  the  variety  are  errors,  and  after  a  survey  of  all 
current  material  on  the  subject,  we  have  found  it  necessary  to  go 
back  to  original  sources 
and  write  anew  the  early 
history  of  the  origin  of 
this  variety. 

George  H.  Bracken- 
bury  of  New  York  state 
conceived  the  idea  of  a 
penciled  Wyandotte,  and 
in  1889  made  his  first 
crosses  with  the  idea  of 
producing  such  a  fowl. 
The  first  mating  was  a 
Golden  Laced  Wyandotte 
male  to  a  Partridge  Co- 
chin female.  This  mating 
produced  a  few  pullets 
with  double  lacings.  One 
of  these  double  -  laced 
pullets  was  mated  back 
to  her  Golden  Wyan- 
dotte sire  in  1890.  In 
the  year  1891  Golden 
Penciled  Hamburg  blood 
was  introduced,  also  ad- 
ditional Partridge  Cochin 
V,1r,r>M  "R,,,-  ,  rv  c  First  prize  Partridge  Wyandotte  cock,  Michigan 

Od.        tfyron     L>.     barr,       State     Fair)     1920.       Hatched     May    4,     1919;     great- 
a     Cochin     breeder,     also       grandson    of    "Sunbrier"    and    carries    87^2%    of    the 
V^,-1      c*   t        u  blood  of  Sunbrier.      Bred  by  T.  W.   Schoen,   Sunbrier 

York    Mate,    be-       Farms,   Michigan.     Photo  taken  when  a   cockerel. 


214  THE   AMERICAN   BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

came   interested   and   worked   with    Mr.    Brackenbury    for    several   years. 

In  1894,  Ezra  Cornell,  of  Ithaca,  New  York,  became  interested  in 
the  new  Partridge  Wyandotte,  and  in  1895  purchased  Mr.  Sarr's 
birds  and  began  to  breed  in  co-operation  with  Mr.  Brackenbury. 
Mr.  Cornell  had  heard  of  Mr.  Brackenbury  in  a  roundabout  way.  In 
1893  Brackenbury  had  sent  some  buff  feathers  laced  with  blue  to 
Franklane  L.  Sewell,  the  poultry  artist.  Mr.  Sewell  carried  these 
feathers  with  him  to  the  New  York  show  and  there  showed  them 
to  Mr.  Cornell,  who  was  then  breeding  Buff  Leghorns;  and  Mr. 
Cornell  became  so  interested  in  the  buff  feathers  laced  with  blue 
that  at  the  close  of  the  show  he  made  a  trip  especially  to  see  Mr. 
Brackenbury's  buff-laced  Wyandottes,  or  Auburnettes.  The  birds 
themselves,  however,  proved  unattractive,  but  the  sight  of  the  new 
penciled  Wyandottes  on  which  Mr.  Brackenbury  was  working  repaid 
Mr.  Cornell  for  the  journey. 

Joseph  McKeen  was  the  originator  of  the  Golden  Wyandotte,  and 
he  was  familiar  with  both  the  Golden  Wyandotte  and  the  Partridge 
Cochin.  He  and  E.  O.  Thiem  experimented  with  a  Golden  Wyandotte- 
Partridge  Cochin  cross  in  1885  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the 
Golden  Laced  Wyandotte.  It  was  not  until  1889  that  McKeen  and 
Thiem  made  their  first  matings  with  a  definite  view  of  producing  in 
a  Wyandotte  the  penciling  of  a  Partridge  Cochin. 

Thiem  mated  a  Winnebago  hen,  which  he  had  secured  from  Mr. 
McKeen,  and  a  Cornish  Indian  game  hen  and  a  Golden  Wyandotte  hen 
to  a  Partridge  Cochin  cock.  He  also  mated  Partridge  Cochin  hens  to  a 
Golden  Wyandotte  male.  McKeen  made  two  matings  of  Partridge 
Cochin  hens,  using  a  Winnebago  male  to  head  one  pen  and  a  Golden 
Wyandotte  male  to  head  the  other.  These  two  breeders  then  ex- 
changed birds  and  were  associated  together  in  the  production  of  the 
variety. 

Ezra  Cornell  always  gave  the  greatest  credit  to  Brackenbury,  say- 
ing that  he  believed  that  Thiem  took  the  cue  from  Brackenbury,  and 
added  that  Thiem  had  secured  a  little  of  Brackenbury's  surplus  stock, 
some  of  which  he  turned  over  to  McKeen.  Cornell  then  summed 
up  his  argument  by  saying:  "One  thing  certain  is  that  there  has  not 
been  a  strain  of  Golden  Penciled  Wyandottes  started  in  America  that 
has  not  gpne  to  George  H.  Brackenbury  for  help,  whereas  there  is 
not  a  drop  of  blood  from  any  other  strain  in  the  Brackenbury  or,  as 
it  is  known,  the  Cornell-Brackenbury  strain." 

Purity,  however,  is  not  in  itself  a  guarantee  of  excellence,  and 
the  western  strain  of  McKeen  and  Thiem  had  the  advantage  of 
better  shape  and  richer  coloring  on  the  males,  and  the  birds,  due  to 
the  Cornish  cross  that  Thiem  had  made,  were  solid,  compact  and 
well  fleshed.  The  Brackenbury  birds  were  looser  feathered  and  more 
accurately  penciled  in  the  females,  but  rather  inclined  to  a  pre- 
ponderance of  red  in  the  males. 


PARTRIDGE  WYANDOTTES  215 

The  name  selected.  The  rivalry  between  the  two  groups  of  east- 
ern and  western  breeders  was  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  Bracken- 
bury  and  Cornell  very  much  preferred  that  the  variety  should  be 
known  as  the  Golden  Penciled  Wyandottes,  on  the  ground  that  the 
birds  did  not  have  the  true  partridge  markings  of  our  wild  birds, 
but  had  penciled  feathers.  The  breeders  of  the  west  were  insistent 
on  the  name  of  Partridge  Wyandottes,  they  preferring  not  to  dis- 
associate the  penciled  feather  from  the  word  Partridge,  which  had  so 
long  been  applied  to  that  variety  of  Cochin  in  which  the  feathers 
were  of  this  same  color  and  pattern.  The  preference  of  the  western 
breeders  prevailed  in  the  meeting  of  the  American  Poultry  Associa- 
tion at  Chicago  in  1901,  and  the  new  variety  was  admitted  to  the 
Standard  as  the  Partridge  Wyandotte.  Nevertheless,  Ezra  Cornell 
and  other  eastern  breeders  continued  to  advertise  and  exhibit  their 
fowls  as  Golden  Penciled  Wyandottes.  The  publication  of  a  new 
edition  of  the  Standard  in  1902,  in  which  the  new  variety  was  classified 
as  the  Partridge,  effectively  killed  the  last  hopes  of  the  eastern  origi- 
nators. The  formation  of  a  Partridge  Wyandotte  Club  in  1900  was 
now  bringing  all  breeders  together  and  there  sprung  up  a  community 
of  interest  that  has  ever  since  welded  them  in  a  fine  fraternal  spirit. 

The  first  Partridge  Wyandottes  were  shown  at  the  Kansas  City 
(Missouri)  show  in  1894  by  E.  O.  Thiem.  He  wrote  that  in  1893  his 
efforts  and  those  of  McKeen  were  crowned  with  success.  This  was 
about  the  time  that  the  Brackenbury  stock  was  used  by  the  western 
breeders.  Shortly  after  the  showing  at  Kansas  City,  Ezra  Cornell 
had  an  opportunity  to  buy  the  entire  stock  of  Mr.  Thiem;  "but," 
wrote  Mr.  Cornell  (page  970,  Reliable  Poultry  Journal,  January,  1902), 
"the  sample  feathers  sent  were  not  attractive.  They  were  considered 
by  us  inferior  to  what  we  already  had." 

Cornell  and  Brackenbury  were  double  mating,  and  the  pullet  line 
was  mostly  on  Cornell's  Valleyview  Farm  at  Ithaca;  New  York.  He 
produced  a  fine  mahogany  color  in  his  females,  cleanly  penciled  with 
black  bands  that  nicely  followed  the  outlines  of  the  feather.  He 
emphasized  the  point  that  "the  nearer,  you  come  to  getting  every 
feather  well  penciled,  the  finer  bird  you  have." 

The  western  strain  was  bred  by  single  or  standard  matings. 

Great  improvers  of  the  variety.  Ezra  Cornell  died  about  1902. 
Joseph  McKeen  went  to  his  reward  in  1896  and  his  birds  were  divided 
between  E.  O.  Thiem  and  W.  A.  Doolittle,  of  Sabetha,  Kansas.  Mr. 
Doolittle  bred  the  stock  with  signal  success,  exhibiting  in  the  east 
as  well  as  in  the  west.  At  Boston,  1903,  he  won  first  hen  and  first 
pullet  and  sold  the  pullet  for  fifty  dollars. 

Carver  and  Avey,  Columbia  City,  Indiana,  came  into  prominence 
as  breeders  of  Partridge  Wyandottes  about  1904.  They  won  first 
cockerel  at  the  St.  Louis  World's  Fair  in  that  year,  and  exported 
the  bird  to  England  at  a  price  of  $100,  The.  bird  was  not  satisfactory 


216 


THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


Mrs.  Dooley,  the  famous  Partridge  Wyandotte  hen,  which 
won  1st  prize  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  Boston,  Chicago, 
Kansas  City,  Syracuse,  Hagerstown,  Columbus,  Indianapolis, 
Detroit,  and  Springfield,  111.  Owned  by  Sheffield  Farms,  Ohio. 

to  its  English  buyer,  being  too  dark  in  color.  The  English  were 
breeding  an  orange  or  golden-red  ground  color,  and  the  dark  mahog- 
any colored  American  bird  was  a  mere  cull  in  their  eyes. 

The  first  Partridge  Wyandottes  to  be  exported  to  England  were 
shipped  by  Mr.  Thiem  to  John  Wharton  in  Yorkshire,  in  September, 
after  the  breeding  season,  1896.  The  pen  consisted  of  a  cock,  two 
hens  and  two  pullets.  In  the  summer  of  1897  Mr.  Wharton  bought 
six  more  Partridges  from  Mr.  Thiem,  paying  $105  for  them.  The 
progress  of  the  variety  in  England  was  rapid,  and  by  1902  interest 
had  reached  the  point  where  the  first  cockerel  at  the  Crystal  Palace, 
London,  sold  for  about  $825  in  our  money.  We  saw  this  bird, 
mounted,  some  years  later,  and  his  color  presented  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  rich-toned  males  that  were  being  bred  in  America.  The 
red  in  the  English  bird  was  light  orange;  the  red  in  the  American 
birds  was  mahogany. 


PARTRIDGE  WYANDOTTES  217 

There  was  a  fad  for  dark  birds  in  the  middle  west  about  the  time 
that  Carver  and  Avey  showed  at  St.  Louis,  1904.  At  a  distance  the 
dark  males  appeared  almost  black.  In  the  east,  however,  a  brighter 
color  was  bred,  for  Brackenbury's  rich  red  line  was  the  dominant 
factor  in  the  eastern  flocks. 

M.  H.  Coffin,  of  Whitesville,  Massachusetts,  was  prominent  as  a 
breeder  of  the  variety  in  New  England.  Charles  H.  Wood,  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  owed  his  success  largely  to  Coffin. 

The  splendid  strain  of  Premier  Partridge  Wyandottes  was  founded 
by  H.  B.  Hark  at  Sheffield  Farm,  in  Ohio.  Hark  took  to  Sheffield 
Farm  the  Partridges  that  he  was  breeding  at  the  Hartman  Farm  in 
Columbus,  and  bought  the  entire  flock  of  Coffin  in  1910.  The  logical 
successor  of  Ezra  Cornell  was  M.  H.  Coffin,  and  the  Coffin  stock 
was  fundamentally  the  Cornell-Brackenbury  stock;  although  Coffin 
later  secured  some  eggs  for  hatching  from  Doolittle,  of  Kansas,  who 
was  breeding  the  western  strain,  and  from  C.  H.  George. 

Two  years  later  Hark  incorporated  the  Wolverine  strain,  bred  and 
originated  by  C.  H.  George,  of  Union  City,  Michigan.  The  Premier 
strain  today  is  an  amalgamation  of  the  cream  of  the  early  eastern 
and  western  foundation  strains  of  the  variety.  The  Premier  strain 
was  again  reinforced  as  late  as  1919,  when  Mr.  Hark  purchased  a 
bright  colored  cock  and  mated  him  to  four  females  and  used  the 
cockerels  from  this  mating  as  pen  breeders  in  1920.  This  cock  was 
bred  by  C.  R.  Kreitler  and  was  the  progeny  of  a  straight  Doolittle 
cock  and  an  English  hen  imported  by  Thiem  and  presented  by  him 
shortly  before  he  died  to  Kreitler.  Mr.  Kreitler  had  purchased  Mr. 
Doolittle's  flock  some  years  before. 

Mrs.  Dooley,  the  famous  Partridge  Wyandotte  hen  which  was 
purchased  by  Sheffield  Farms  and  exhibited  and  bred  by  them  with 
such  success  that  she  became  an  outstanding  individual  in  the  history 
of  the  breed,  was  bred  by  M.  H.  Coffin  from  birds  produced  from  a 
sitting  of  eggs  that  he  purchased  from  Doolittle,  and  a  sitting  from 
George. 

As  a  breeder  she  proved  most  valuable,  and  her  blood  and  charac- 
teristics are  still  quite  prominent  and  noticeable  in  the  "Premier" 
strain.  She  was  the  sensation  of  the  show  at  the  club  meet  at 
Chicago  in  1909,  and  again  at  the  club  meet  at  Kansas  City  in  1910, 
where  W.  A.  Doolittle  pronounced  her  the  best  Partridge  hen  that 
had  ever  been  produced.  He  remarked  that  it  would  be  a  long  time 
before  another  individual  would  be  produced  as  good  as  she  was. 

The  first  hen  at  the  New  York  State  Fair,  1920,  on  which  we 
commented,  "A  wonderfully  big  matron,  elegantly  penciled,"  is  strong 
in  the  blood  of  Mrs.  Dooley  and  resembles  her  very  much. 

The  Sunbrier  strain,  as  bred  by  T.  W.  Schoen,  was  started  from 
Premier  birds,  but  at  the  Virginia  State  Fair  in  1917  a  most  remark- 
able pullet,  both  in  shape  and  color,  was  purchased.  "Sunbrier,"  an 


218  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

almost  perfect  male,  bought  as  a  cockerel  and  cock,  was  of  pure 
Premier  ancestry,  and  he  was  bred  to  this  pullet,  his  mother  and 
two  sisters.  Upon  checking  up  the  pedigrees  of  the  Sunbrier  strain 
a  year  later,  all  the  best  birds  were  from  Sunbrier  and  the  Virginia 
State  Fair  pullet,  and  the  offspring  from  all  the  other  birds  was 
culled  out. 

As  the  Virginia  pullet  had  gone  through  several  hands  before  it 
reached  Mr.  Schoen,  then  located  in  West  Virginia,  it  was  not  pos- 
sible to  trace  her  birthplace,  although  the  direction  pointed  east.  A 
great  possibility  exists  that  this  pullet  had  the  blood  of  the  eastern 
strain. 

Writing  of  the  future,  Mr.  Schoen  says: 

During  the  breeding  season  of  1920,  E.  G.  Lapham's  famous  cockerel,  winning 
2d  at  the  1920  Club  show,  the  greatest  ever  held,  was  bred  to  a  Sunbrier  hen  and 
after  a  cockerel  from  this  mating  has  been  bred  back  to  his  mother,  the  Lapham 
strain  will  be  brought  into  the  Sunbrier  flock.  The  Lapham  cockerel  was  from 
a  strong  female  line  and  we  think  that  by  getting  his  blood  into  our  flock,  our 
strain  will  exceed  anything  in  existence,  as  our  males  are  already  dominating 
the  shows.  We  won  last  year  1st,  3d  cockerel  at  the  Club  show  and  best  colored 
male  in  a  class  of  110. 

Correct  color  for  Partridge  Wyandottes.  When  the  variety  was 
first  admitted  to  the  Standard,  edition  of  1902,  the  neck  of  the  ideal 
male  was  described  as  "red,"  the  back  "dark  red";  the  female  was 
described  as  "mahogany  red  or  reddish  brown."  With  passing  years 
the  black  has  remained  pretty  much  the  same.  It  is  the  tone  of  red 
that  really  matters.  In  the  1905  Standard  no  changes  were  made. 
In  1910  the  neck  of  the  male  was  described  as  "bright  red"  and  the 
back  as  "dark  red,"  making  a  two-color  bird  as  before.  The  dark 
back  satisfied  the  western  breeders;  the  bright  neck  appeased  the 
eastern  breeders.  The  female  to  go  with  this  male  was  "mahogany 
brown." 

The  1916  Standard  was  a  long  step  in  advance.  It  called  for  a 
male  of  the  same  shade  of  red  in  neck  as  in  back,  and  that  shade 
was  to  be  "bright  red."  The  female  description,  however,  remained 
old-fashioned,  i.e.,  "mahogany  brown."  This  word  "mahogany"  has 
been  a  stumbling  block  to  progress,  for  it  has  in  the  past  led  breeders 
to  produce  too  dark  a  ground  color.  The  majority  of  breeders  in  the 
middle  west  held  to  the  dark  female,  but  all  were  now  ready  to  accept 
a  brighter  colored  male.  However,  in  1917  the  National  Partridge 
Wyandotte  Club  prepared  a  club  standard  which  called  for  a  female 
that  was  of  a  "rich  reddish  brown  color."  While  words  are  more  or 
less  elastic,  this  club  description  fits  the  winning  females  as  well  as 
any  phrase  ever  penned. 

There  has  been  great  improvement  in  the  color  of  males.  Dark 
mahogany  wing  bows  have  been  the  last  to  go.  One  thing  that  the 
Partridge  Wyandotte  breeder  should  see  in  his  dreams  is  a  shade  of 
color  that  is  exactly  the  same  over  neck,  back,  saddle  and  wing 
bows,  and  the  breeder  of  today  must  work  to  produce  such  a  bird. 


PARTRIDGE  WYANDOTTES  219 

The  exact  shade  of  color  in  the  male  remains  a  matter  of  discussion. 
All  agree  that  a  bright  red  color  is  most  desirable  and  that  he  should 
be  of  the  same  shade  of  bright  red  in  neck,  back  and  wing  bows; 
but  many  breeders  have  failed  to  understand  the  exact  tone  of  red 
that  will  meet  the  approval  of  the  best  judges. 

At  the  New  York  State  Fair,  September,  1920,  we  discussed  this 
matter  with  H.  B.  Hark,  and  in  August  previous  we  talked  the 
matter  over  with  Walter  C.  Young,  who  was  to  judge  the  annual 
club  show  at  Detroit,  December,  1920.  They  both  want  the  bright 
red  ground  color  seen  to  such  splendid  advantage  in  the  lustrous 
Brown  Leghorn  male.  This  is  what  we  have  always  maintained. 
Some  years  ago  we  made  a  study  of  this  subject,  collecting  feathers 
from  the  best  colored  Brown  Leghorn  males,  Bird  Bros.'  Partridge 
Rock  males,  and  the  best  Partridge  Wyandotte  males.  They  match 
in  all  save  under-color,  in  which  the  Brown  Leghorn  has  somewhat 
the  deeper  shade  of  slate.  Of  course,  the  Leghorn  feather  is  some- 
what narrower.  But  the  shade  of  red  is  the  important  thing,  and  in 
this  the  bright  red  of  the  Standard  Brown  Leghorn  male  is  the 
bright  shade  that  Partridge  breeders  must  produce  if  they  want  to 
get  under  the  ribbons  on  Partridges  at  the  big  shows.  There  is  aim- 
less talk  about  Partridge  color,  and  Mitchell's  Cochins  are  brought 
into  the  argument.  There  is  a  color  in  Mitchell's  Partridge  Cochins 
that  is  different  from  that  found  in  the  Partridge  Wyandottes  and 
Partridge  Plymouth  Rocks  of  today.  Mitchell  has  produced  a  won- 
derful chicken,  but  if  you  want  to  get  a  line  of  the  bright  color  with 
which  the  most  successful  exhibitors  of  Partridge  Wyandottes  and 
Partridge  Rocks  delight  the  eye  of  the  judge,  go  study  the  Brown 
Leghorn  males.  This  may  not  agree  with  some  of  the  theories,  but 
it  is  practical  and  will  bring  home  the  bacon. 

Mating  Partridge  Wyandottes.  Practically  every  beginner  wants 
to  steer  clear  of  a  variety  that  is  bred  in  double  matings.  He  wants 
a  variety  in  which  an  ideal  pair  are  ideal  mates;  in  which  his  finest 
male  will  be  his  best  pullet  breeder,  and  his  finest  female  his  best 
producer  of  cockerels  as  well  as  pullets.  Alas,  such  perfection  in 
the  variety  is  not  yet  known.  And  the  beginner  must  accept  things 
as  they  are. 

He  will  find  that  the  best  penciled  females  have  penciling  in  their 
neck  feathers.  The  Standard,  therefore,  allows  penciling  in  the  lower 
neck  feathers,  but  the  upper  neck  feathers  may  be  striped.  This  is 
a  compromise  between  the  tendency  to  penciling  in  the  females  and 
the  tendency  to  striping  in  the  males. 

A  well  penciled  hen,  penciled  in  neck  hackle,  will  produce  cock- 
erels that  are  inclined  to  show  red  tipping  on  lower  breast  and  thighs, 
and  perhaps  a  red  quill  in  his  hackle  and  saddle  feathers.  Such  a 
male  often  is  spoken  of  as  "pullet-bred,"  that  is,  bred  from  a  wonder- 
fully penciled  female.  Such  a  male  will  produce  elegant  penciling 
in  the  pullets  which  he  sires,  provided,  of  course,  that  he  is  himself 


220  THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS    OF   POULTRY 

out  of  a  wonderful  hen  and  is  not  merely  a  faulty  colored  exhibition 
cockerel. 

The  best  producers  of  gorgeously  striped  males  are  females  whose 
necks  are  striped  with  black,  not  penciled;  and  around  those  stripes 
should  be  an  edging  of  bright  red,  not  orange  or  Temon.  Such  a 
female  will  be  stippled  in  the  back  or  coarsely  penciled,  and  cannot 
win  in  the  best  shows.  Ancestry  again  determines  the  value  of  such 
a  female,  for  a  plainbred  Partridge  Wyandotte  hen  may  fail  in  pencil- 
ing, yet  be  an  inferior  breeder  of  cockerels.  A  little  dark  color  in 
the  shanks  should  never  condemn  a  cockerel-breeding  hen.  She 
should  be  mated  to  the  brightest  color  type  of  exhibition  male  that 
you  have.  This  is  the  cockerel  mating.  The  pullet  mating  is  com- 
posed of  the  finest  marked  females  mated  to  the  pullet-bred  male 
above  described. 

The  standard  or  single  maters  are  usually  partly  double  maters, 
although  they  do  not  so  state.  The  facts  are  that  they  pick  as  good 
colored  male  as  they  can  whose  dam  was  a  nicely  penciled  female, 
and  they  mate  him  to  some  well  penciled  females  and  some  stipple- 
backed,  striped-neck  females.  The  former  produce  a  fair  share  of 
good  pullets  and  the  latter  produce  a  fair  proportion  of  good  cock- 
erels. This  kind  of  mating  frequently  amounts  to  mating  the  best 
birds  together,  and  accounts  for  the  mediocre  flocks  of  the  average 
small  breeders  and  the  fact  that  they  have  to  reinforce  their  stock 
with  a  high-class  purchased  bird  from  time  to  time. 

Possibilities  of  single  mating.  Of  course  we  concede  that  a  super- 
breeder  can  breed  striping  in  the  male  and  penciling  in  the  female 
from  the  same  blood.  Single  mating,  however,  requires  more  time 
and  thought  than  double  mating.  The  easy  way  to  produce  what  you 
want  in  any  variety  is  by  double  mating.  The  easy  way  to  fail  is  to 
single  mate.  A  breeder  who  has  the  ability  can  duplicate  what 
George  W.  Mitchell  has  done  in  Partridge  Cochins,  but  he  will  have 
to  "put  his  whole  being  into  the  work,"  as  Mr.  Mitchell  would  say. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  Mr.  Mitchell  was  told  that  Partridge  Cochins 
could  not  1)e  bred  by  single  mating — that  it  would  always  be  necessary 
to  maintain  a  separate  family  for  the  production  of  black-breasted, 
clearly  striped  cockerels,  and  another  distinct  family  to  produce  finely 
penciled  pullets.  He  did  not  think  so,  and  he  has  since  so  conclusively 
proved  the  possibility  of  single  mating  that  his  results  in  breeding 
will  be  cited  through  years  to  come  whenever  an  example  and  inspira- 
tion are  needed. 

At  the  Boston  show,  January,  1920,  Mr.  Mitchell,  seventy  years 
old,  exhibited  his  wonderful  Partridge  Cochins.  There  had  not  been 
a  drop  of  new  blood  introduced  into  this  strain  since  1894 — a  period 
of  twenty-six  years.  We  have  Mr.  Mitchell's  word  for  it  and  we 
believe  him.  Some  years  ago  Mr.  Mitchell  thought  that  he  should 
infuse  some  new  blood,  and  asked  Frank  Sewell,  who  was  going  to 


PARTRIDGE  WYANDOTTES  221 

England,  to  buy  a  female  or  two  for  him;  but  Mr.  Sewell  returned 
without  making  a  purchase,  for  he  could  find  nothing  in  the  best  yards 
of  England  worthy  to  be  introduced  into  Mr.  Mitchell's  line.  And 
so  the  line  has  been  bred,  on  and  on,  within  itself,  and  the  pedigrees 
of  the  individual  birds  have  grown  closer  and  closer.  On  top  of 
this,  Adolph  Anderson,  Mr.  Mitchell's  poultryman,  has  sold  time 
and  time  again  the  best  birds  that  he  had  at  the  shows,  and  people 
have  wondered  howr  long  he  could  continue  to  sell  his  best  and  come 
up  with  better  Cochins  the  succeeding  year. 

For  thirteen  years  we  have  watched  this  line,  and  cannot  see  but 
what  the  birds  at  Boston,  1920,  were  as  big  and  strong  as  when  we 
first  saw  the  Mitchell  Cochins  in  New  York,  1907.  There  are  cockerels 
up  to  eleven  pounds.  The  judge  asked  Mr.  Anderson  to  go  down  to 
the  secretary's  office  and  take  an  oath  that  the  pullets  were  pullets 
and  not  little  hens. 

Does  inbreeding  destroy  the  virility  and  growing  power  of  a  race  of 
poultry?  We  are  forced  to  conclude  that  not  inbreeding,  but  permit- 
ting inferior  specimens  to  reproduce  themselves,  undermines  a  flock, 
and  as  long  as  a  breeder  has  an  eye  for  strength  and  size  as  well  as 
shape  and  color,  he  is  on  safe  ground,  be  he  ever  so  close  an  inbreeder. 

Inbreeding  has  led  to  uniformity  in  these  Cochins.  The  first  prize 
young  pen  at  Boston  was  composed  of  four  pullets,  each  from  a 
different  dam,  and  they  were  as  nearly  alike  as  four  full  sisters. 

Now,  mark  this  well:  The  cockerel  that  headed  the  pen  was  a 
full  brother  to  one  of  the  pullets.  The  Mitchell  Partridge  Cochins 
are  bred  by  single  mating,  and  the  finest  cockerels  and  the  finest 
pullets  come  from  the  same  mating.  The  first  cock  was  the  sire  of 
the  first  and  second  cockerel,  and  also  the  first,  second  and  third 
oullets.  Mr.  Anderson  took  the  birds  out  of  the?r  cages  and  showed 
us  the  toe  punch,  so  that  there  would  be  no  mistake.  The  penciling 
on  the  pullets  ran  way  down  below  the  wings,  clear  on  to  the  fluff. 
There  is  one  thing:  Mr.  Mitchell  does  not  breed  dark  slate  under- 
color. Customers  who  wrote  him  for  dark  under-colored  males  mated 
to  dark  under-colored  females  to  produce  more  dark  under-color, 
put  him  out  of  commercial  breeding  years  ago.  Such  birds  are  pro- 
duced only  by  double  mating,  and  this  breeder  does  not  breed  his 
birds  that  way.  While  never  using  white  under-color,  he  does  recog- 
nize light  slate  as  a  desirable  shade. 

No  doubt  double  mating  would  result  in  richer  colored  hackles, 
for  only  one  pullet  at  Boston,  1920,  suited  us  in  this  respect;  but  the 
birds  are  a  tribute  to  single  mating.  They  are  better  than  the  birds 
of  all  the  other  Partridge  Cochin  breeders  in  the  world,  all  of  whom 
have  been  privileged  to  try  out  every  conceivable  system  of  mating. 
But  George  H.  Mitchell  is  a  fancier  and  student  who  not  only  pedi- 
grees but  keeps  blood  lines  in  mind,  and  at  the  age  of  seventy  he 
\vrote: 


222  THEv  AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

The  end  we  hope  for  is  not  yet  attained  and  all  our  plans  are  to  produce  even 
better  Standard  bred  fowl  than  in  previous  years. 

Thus  the  greatest  breeder  of  Partridge  Cochins  that  the  world 
has  yet  known,  a  breeder  whose  best  birds  are  the  standard  by  which 
all  other  specimens  of  the  variety  are  gauged,  is  still  planning,  at  the 
age  of  seventy  years,  to  breed  better  quality.  Such  is  the  spirit  of  the 
fancy. 


An  unusually  good  photograph  o_  a  Par- 
tridge Wyandotte  pullet.  Because  of  the  red 
ground  color  and  black  penciling,  the  con- 
trast is  usually  lost  by  the  camera,  the  red 
appearing  black  in  the  picture. 


CHAPTER   XIX 
SILVER  PENCILED   WYANDOTTES 

A  distinctively  beautiful  variety — Its  origin — How  to  produce  the  finest 
quality  in  males  and  females. 

The  Silver  Penciled  Wyandotte  is  one  of  the  most  strikingly 
colored  fowls  among  the  established  races.  Its  inherited  qualities 
from  the  good  old  Dark  Brahma,  Silver  Penciled  Hamburg  and  Silver 
Laoed  Wyandotte  are  of  the  best.  Its  originator  told  of  five  pullets 
laying  400  eggs  in  100  days;  of  pullets  hatched  July  12  that  were 
up  to  the  Standard  weight  of  five  and  one-half  pounds  by  January  12, 
and  laying;  and  of  the  cockerels  that  were  well  fleshed  at  all  ages. 
Unfortunately  for  the  general  popularity  of  the  variety,  the  Silver 
Penciled  Wyandotte  became  a  gentleman's  breed.  Year  after  year 
for  twenty-five  years  beautiful  specimens,  correct  in  every  detail,  have 
been  shown  at  the  New  York  and  Boston  exhibitions;  but  the  birds 
have  been  in  the  hands  of  fanciers  who  bred  for  pleasure  and  per- 
fection, and  the  stock  was  not  distributed  by  the  common  business 
methods  of  advertising  and  selling. 

The  plumage  color.  The  Silver  Penciled  Wyandotte  male  carries 
a  plumage  of  well  defined  and  sharp  contrasts.  The  breast,  wing  bar, 
body  and  tail  are  black,  with  a  greenish  sheen  to  the  black.  The 
wing  bow  is  white  on  the  surface.  The  neck  and  back  are  white,  and 
through  the  center  of  each  hackle  and  saddle  feather  there  runs  a 
black  stripe  which  tapers  to  a  point  near  the  lower  extremity  of  the 
feather.  No  white  shafting  in  the  stripe  or  black  edging  on  the 
feather  is  wanted. 

The  female  is  very  differently  colored  from  the  male.  She  is 
beautifully  penciled.  There  is  a  tendency  to  a  reddish-white  ground 
color,  but  it  is  less  attractive  than  a  steel-gray  ground  color,  and 
the  latter  offers  the  proper  base  for  the  crescentic  bands  of  black 
penciling  which  are  the  beauty  of  the  female. 

We  do  not  know  why  the  female  should  be  so  differently  marked 
from  the  male.  In  this  variety  it  is  as  if  nature  had  performed  a 
miracle  for  the  delight  and  fascination  of  the  lovers  of  animated  bird 
life  as  seen  in  our  races  of  domesticated  poultry. 

Origin.  The  first  matings  were  made  in  1894  by  Ezra  Cornell, 
Ithaca,  New  York,  and  he  was  helped  in  his  work  by  George  H. 
Brackenbury,  who  lived  near  Auburn,  New  York.  Both  of  these  men 
were  keen  students  and  accomplished  breeders,  which  accounts  for 
the  rapid  progress  made  in  blending  Silver  Laced  Wyandottes,  Dark 
Brahmas  and  Silver  Penciled  Hamburgs  intc  a  new  and  dependable 
variety  of  the  Wyandotte  breed.  Partridge  or  Golden  Penciled  Wyan- 

223 


224 


THE  AMERICAN   BIPEDS   OF   POULTRY 


First  prize  pen  of  Silver  Penciled  Wyandottes,  St.  Louis  World's  Fair,  1904,  bred 
by  E.  G.  Wyckoff  of  New  York  state,  who  succeeded  Ezra  Cornell.  In  all  the  varieties 
of  Wyandottes  at  this,  the  greatest  Wyandotte  show  in  the  world — over  2,000  Wyan- 
dottes in  the  show — it  is  doubtful  if  five  individual  specimens  of  any  variety  of  the  breed 
could  have  been  selected  that  would  have  shown  more  real  merit  than  the  cock  and 
four  hons  represented  above.  They  were  grand  in  shape,  comb,  color,  markings  and  size. 


SILVER   PENCILED   WYANDOTTES  225 

dotte  blood  has  since  been  introduced  into  the  Silver  Penciled  variety 
with  excellent  results.  It  strengthens  the  black  markings  and  the 
red  color  is  easily  bred  out.  The  early  results  of  the  cross  may, 
however,  be  detected  by  buff  colored  feathers  on  the  face  or  the  top 
of  the  head  of  the  Silver  pullets. 

Mating.  Ezra  Cornell  desired  to  produce  the  pure  white  and 
pure  black  of  the  Silver  Penciled  Hamburg.  This  is  the  goal  to  aim 
for.  But  a  penciling  so  clean,  so  distinct  on  the  female,  leads  to  a 
weakness  in  the  black  colored  sections  of  the  male.  The  simpler  way, 
therefore,  to  produce  what  is  most  desired  is  by  the  double  mating 
system. 

There  is  a  tendency  for  the  sound-colored  exhibition  males  to 
contribute  too  much  color  to  their  female  progeny;  but  such  dark, 
heavily  penciled  hens  make  good  cockerel  breeders.  They  often  are 
stippled  with  black  as  well  as  penciled;  their  hackles  are  striped  with 
black;  and  their  wing  primaries  are  black  edged  slightly  with  white 
on  the  lower  edges.  Such  hens,  if  bred  from  a  high-class  exhibition 
male,  will  produce  in  their  cockerels  solid  black  throats,  breasts  and 
bodies,  solid  black  wing  coverts  which  form  the  wing  bar,  and  solid 
black  tails,  heavily  hung  about  with  rich  black  tail  coverts  free  from 
white  splashing;  and  solid  black  striping  in  neck  and  back,  free  from 
white  quills  or  "shafting."  The  pullets  from  such  a  mating  will  be 
strictly  "cockerel-bred,"  lacking  the  distinct  penciling  desired  in 
exhibition  pullets  and  having  tails  that  are  black  to  the  roots  of  the 
feathers.  They  should  also  have  wing  primaries  that  are  solid  black 
except  for  a  slight  edging  of  white  on  the  narrow  side  of  the  primary 
feathers. 

The  beautiful  combination  of  clean  steel-gray  penciled  with  dis- 
tinct bands  of  soft  black,  which  is  the  real  beauty  of  a  Silver  Pen- 
ciled Wyandotte  pullet  at  her  best,  can  be  most  easily  reproduced 
by  mating  a  well  penciled  female  to  a  male  whose  dam  was  a  high- 
class  exhibition  female.  It  will  be  found  that  this  male  carries  strip- 
ing in  hackle  and  saddle,  but  the  stripe  may  have  a  white  quill  in  it, 
and  the  entire  top  plumage  presents  a  silvery  white  appearance.  The 
breast  and  fluff  of  this  male  will  carry  some  white  and  the  tail  coverts 
may  show  some  white.  The  throat,  however,  should  be  reasonably 
black,  for  weak  throats  in  pullets  are  a  common  fault.  The  under- 
color of  such  a  bird  will  be  light,  and  if  he  carries  some  white  at 
the  base  of  tail,  it  should  not  be  deemed  objectionable.  His  wing 
primaries  should  be  correctly  colored.  Yellow  shanks  and  beak  will 
come  naturally  to  such  a  bird.  Now,  if  his  ancestry  on  the  female 
side  is  right,  you  can  produce  some  wonderful  pullets  when  such  a 
male  is  mated  to  high-class  exhibition  females.  The  pullets  will 
be  of  the  desired  steel-gray  color,  cleanly  and  distinctly  penciled. 
They  may  in  their  early  plumage  appear  weak  in  penciling  on  throat 
and  upper  breast,  and  if  the  show  is  an  early  one,  these  light  colored 


226 


THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


feathers  may  be  plucked  and  the  mature  penciled  throat  and  breast 
plumage  will  then  grow  in. 

The  Future.  As  we  look  into  the  past,  we  see  a  variety  whose 
roots  adhere  deep  and  vital  into  three  of  the  grand  old  breeds,  a 
variety  whose  inheritance  none  can  question,  a  variety  that  was 
built  by  master  breeders,  and  one  whose  beauty  is  of  such  fine  con- 
trasts in  black  and  white  that  its  admirers  have  been  numerous, 
although  its  breeders  have -been  few.  What  of  the  future?  That 
depends  on  the  beginners  of  today — on  whether  they  are  ready  to 
say  "So  hard  to  breed!"  or  will  say  "Breeding  males  and  females  is 
a  compound  problem,  the  practical  solution  of  which  lies  in  breaking 
the  problem  into  its  two  component  parts;  and  the  females  from  my 
fine  males  I  shall  learn  to  admire  and  value  for  their  ancestry,  their 
pedigree,  the  blood  that  courses  through  their  veins;  and  I  shall 
produce  the  wonderful  steel-gray  pullets,  sharply  penciled,  by  breed- 
ing males  whose  mothers  were  of  that  sort."  The  problem,  thus 
solved,  would  bespeak  a  future  for  the  variety  that  would  be  dis- 
tinguished by  splendid  classes  of  one  of  the  most  strikingly  beautiful 
fowls  that  ever  graced  the  show  rooms  of  America. 


"Elmwood  Queen,"  a  Silver  Penciled  Wyan- 
dotte  pullet  bred  about  1901  by  T.  F.  McGrew. 


CHAPTER   XX 
COLUMBIAN    WYANDOTTES 

A   white-bodied   variety    that    carries    beautiful   black   markings — The 

variety  was  made  and  named   and   then  remade — Modern   specimens 

are  beautiful  in  every  detail. 

The  Columbian  Wyandotte  is  one  variety  in  which  the  present-day 
specimens  are  not  lineal  descendants  of  the  original  stock. 

Origin.  The  first  Columbian  Wyandottes  were  originated  by  B.  M. 
Briggs,  one  of  the  originators  of  the  White  Wyandottes.  In  1887 
Mr.  Briggs  sold  some  White  Wyandottes  to  a  party  who  lived  near 
him  in  western  New  York,  and  one  of  the  White  females  became 
crossed  with  a  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  male  and  the  result  was  two 
pullets  that  had  white  bodies,  striped  necks  and  black  tails.  Mr. 
Briggs  secured  the  two  pullets  and  mated  them  to  one  of  his  White 
Wyandotte  males  in  the  spring  of  1888.  He  continued  to  breed  the 
stock,  and  in  1893  named  the  new  variety  the  "Columbian"  Wyandotte, 
:aking  the  name  from  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  which  was 
3eing  held  in  Chicago.  He  sold  some  eggs  for  hatching  that  season 
and  disposed  of  some  stock  the  next  year.  He  made  his  first  exhibit 
Df  Columbian  Wyandottes  at  the  Providence  (Rhode  Island)  show 
in  1894.  In  1896  he  exhibited  five  specimens  at  the  Boston  show, 
and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  sold  his  entire  flock. 

The  Columbian  Wyandotte  carried  the  same  color  and  markings 
of  the  Light  Brahma,  and  it  was  not  difficult  to  produce  the  Light 
Brahma  coloration  by  the  crossbreeding  recorded  by  Mr.  Briggs,  for 
prior  to  the  1891  New  York  show  no  Light  Brahma  female  had  the 
double  and  triple  rows  of  laced  tail  coverts  which  are  the  crowning 
glory  of  the  modern  bird.  It  was  at  the  1891  New  York  show  that 
George  Purdue  exhibited  a  Light  Brahma  pullet  with  a  double  row 
of  laced  tail  coverts.  He  named  her  "Progress,"  and  soon  thereafter 
all  Light  Brahma  breeders  were  endeavoring  to  make  progress  in  the 
development  of  more  laced  tail  coverts  on  their  females. 

The  Light  Brahma  enjoyed  great  popularity  between  1891  and  1900. 
Three  different  years  during  this  period  there  were  classes  of  over 
two  hundred  birds  in  the  Madison  Square  Garden  (New  York)  show. 
Master  breeders  were  devoted  to  the  variety  and  vied  with  one 
another  in  their  efforts  to  put  down  pure  white  bodied  birds  that 
were  sharply  marked  with  black  points.  Compared  to  such  birds,  the 
new  Columbian  Wyandottes  failed  to  attract  serious  attention,  for 
the  new  Columbians  had  weak  striping  in  their  hackles;  the  wing  pri- 
maries, instead  of  being  black  edged  on  the  lower  edges  with  white, 

227 


228 


THE   AMERICAN    BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


were  mostly  white;  and  there  was  scarcely  any  lacing  in  the  tail 
coverts. 

Light  Brahma  blood  used.  As  time  passed  and  fanciers  caught 
the  vision  of  a  White  Wyandotte  marked  with  the  exquisite  black 
points  of  the  improved  Light  Brahma,  the  possibilities  of  the  Colum- 
bian began  to  be  taken  seriously.  It  was  apparent,  however,  that  the 
variety  should  be  remade  and  advantage  taken  of  the  work  that  had 
been  put  into  the  Light  Brahma. 

Crosses  with  the  Brahma  were  made,  beginning  late  in  the  nineties 
and  continuing  up  until  about  1910.  J.  H.  Drevenstedt  states  that 
John  Evans,  of  Rhode  Island,  was  the  first  to  come  out  with  Colum- 
bians that  had  been  reinforced  with  Brahma  blood, "and  that  he  pro- 
duced some  remarkably  good  pullets  prior  to  1900.  Breeders  every- 
where went  back  to  the  Brahma,  or  secured  stock  from  someone 
who  had. 

The  pea  comb  of  the  Brahma  was  not  as  satisfactory  a  base  as 
a  single  comb  would  have  been  for  producing  the  rose  comb  of  the 
Wyandotte.  When  a  rose  combed  Wyandotte,  either  White  or  Colum- 
bian, was  bred  on  the  pea  comb  Brahma,  the  combs  produced  were 


Columbian  Wyandotte  hen.  The  beautiful  black  tail  coverts  laced 
with  white  are  here  seen  to  advantage.  The  striped  neck  is  another 
important  section  of  the  bird.  The  wing  is  opened  to  show  the  black 
flight  feathers  properly  edged  with  white.  The  entire  body,  back, 
breast  and  wing  bows  are  pure  white  on  the  surface. 


COLUMBIAN  WYANDOTTES  229 

round  in  front,  deficient  in  spike,  and  were  smooth,  or  corrugated 
with  ridges  on  top,  and  lacked  the  papilla  or  minute  points  desired 
on  a  Wyandotte's  comb.  It  was  quite  a  problem  to  get  good  combs 
on  the  Columbians,  but  this  feature  is  now  worked  out,  and  the 
variety  comes  very  good  in  comb  and  head  points. 

The  question  of  feathered  shanks,  inherited  from  the  Brahma,  may 
always  be  solved  in  two  generations.  But  the  beautifully  laced  neck, 
the  sound  wing  markings,  and  the  contrasting  lacing  of  white  on 
the  big  black  tail  coverts,  were  not  so  easily  held. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  breeding  this  color  type  you  get  what  you 
want  as  the  color  works  out,  and  not  on  its  way  in;  and  the  black 
color  does  work  out  from  generation  to  generation.  Therefore  it  is 
necessary  to  have  a  reserve  of  color  in  some  of  the  specimens  that 
are  used  for  breeders.  This  point  was  emphasized  in  the  judging  at 
New  York  for  several  years,  especially  from  1907  to  1910.  The  result 
was  that  the  birds  in  the  show  were  good  in  neck  striping,  tail  lacing 
and  wings,  but  their  bodies  were  not  white  enough,  many  of  the 
pullets  showing  a  superabundance  of  black  flecking  and  even  black 
spots  in  their  backs.  This  off-color  has  now  been  cleaned  up,  and 
backs  that  are  white  on  the  surface  are  the  rule  in  the  showrooms 
today. 

Mating.  If  the  male  has  weak  striping  in  hackle  and  white  on  the 
broad  side  of  the  wing  primaries,  we  would  mate  him  to  females  that 
are  very  dark,  heavy  colored  specimens;  females  that  arc  strong  slate 
in  under-color.  We  would  not  call  this  a  good  mating,  however,  for 
a  wing  showing  white  in  primaries,  except  on  the  outside  edging  of 
the  narrow  web,  seriously  reduces  the  breeding  value  of  the  bird. 

Mating  I. — We  would  prefer  to  have  a  male  that  has  good  wings 
and  colored  on  the  surface  like  the  male  illustrated  in  this  chapter. 
As  nearly  as  possible,  his  mates  should  then  be  females  like  the  one 
which  also  is  illustrated  in  this  chapter.  The  majority  of  cockerels 
and  pullets  from  this  mating  will  be  good. 

Mating  II. — If  the  breeder  has  some  hens  that  are  very  dark, 
with  some  flecking  of  black  in  their  back,  and  these  are  mated  to  a 
male  that  runs  light,  that  is,  one  which  has  clean  striping  in  his 
hackle  but  the  stripe  breaks  into  white  underneath,  and  the  male  has 
little  striping  in  his  back,  his  breast  near  the  throat  is  white,  his 
wings  good,  and  his  under-color  nearly  white,  the  mating  can  be 
relied  upon  to  produce  good  pullets  and  some  good  cockerels. 

Mating  III. — If  the  male  runs  dark,  is  heavily  striped  in  neck 
and  white  lacing  is  edged  with  black;  if  his  breast  near  throat  shows 
considerable  black;  if  his  back  is  striped  more  or  less;  if  his  wings 
are  good  and  his  under-color  is  slaty  in  color,  he  may  be  mated  to 
females  that  are  deficient  in  neck,  wing  and  tail  markings,  and  good 
cockerels  will  be  produced,  also  some  good  pullets.  It  should  be 
remembered,  however,  that  if  the  back  stripes  in  the  male  are  so 


230  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 

solidly  black  that  they  run  into  the  slate  under-color  without  a  break, 
the  male  is  too  heavily  striped  to  produce  more  than  a  few  good 
pullets,  and  the  rest  will  show  black  spots  in  their  back.  The  striping 
of  the  male's  back  should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  a  V-shaped  stripe, 
opened  in  the  center  with  a  white  quill,  and  there  should  be  a  pro- 
nounced bar  of  white  before  the  under-color  is  reached.  We  like  to 
see  this  striping  in  the  saddle  hangers  rather  than  on  top  of  the  back, 
although  we  must  make  an  allowance  for  the  fact  that  the  Columbian 
Wyandotte  male  is  inclined  to  carry  his  striping  on  the  top  of  his 
back,  while  his  saddle  hangers  are  white. 

The  Columbian  is  an  interesting  fowl  to  breed,  and  it  presents  the 
advantage  of  allowing  the  breeder  to  use  in  successful  matings  not 
only  his  highest  type  show-colored  specimens,  but  also  his  excess- 
colored  males  and  females  and  his  light-colored  males  and  females. 


Typical  Columbian  Wyandotte 
Male. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
JAVAS 

An  American  production — Not  extensively  bred  at  the  present  time — 
How  to  mate  both  Black  and  Mottled  Javas 

The  Java  is  one  of  the  oldest  American  breeds.  Controversies 
have  raged  concerning  its  origin,  and,  while  they  have  subsided,  the 
issue  never  has  been  settled  completely,  and  in  1920  the  question  was 
taken  up  anew. 

Black  Javas.  There  are  two  varieties  of  Javas,  Black  and  Mottled. 
The  Black  Java  is  the  older  variety  and  the  original  from  which  the 
Mottled  was  produced. 

The  Black  Java  is  mentioned  as  an  ancestor  of  the  Barred 
Plymouth  Rock,  and  the  question  has  been  whether  this  so-tailed 
Black  Java  was  what  we  now  term  a  Black  Java  or  whether  it  was 
a  Black  Cochin.  The  weight  of  the  evidence  clearly  indicates  that 
all  the  big  black  fowls  were  first  called  "Javas,"  and  that  in  reality 
it  was  the  Cochin  which  was  used  in  the  original  Spaulding  cross 
which  produced  the  first  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks. 

C.  P.  Nettleton,  an  old-time  breeder  of  Asiatics,  writes  of  having 
purchased  some  Black  Cochins  in  1868.  In  a  letter^  dated  in  1901, 
he  said: 

They  were  commonly  called  by  most  people  Black  Javas,  had  feathered  legs, 
but  scant  feathering,  hardly  a  bird  having  any  feathers  on  the  middle  toe.  Most 
of  the  parties  who,  spoke  of  these  black  birds  as  long  ago  as  1868  called  them 
Black  Javas.  Some  of  this  kind  of  fowls  were  shown  at  the  New  York  show  held  In 
Barnum's  Museum  long  before  that  time. 

At  the  Philadelphia  Poultry  Show  of  1871  £he  classification  read 
"Black  Cochins  or  Javas."  This  recorded  history  helps  the  breeder 
of  today  to  accept  the  account  of  the  origin  of  the  modern  Black 
Java  as  chronicled  by  J.  Y.  Bicknell,  an  honored  secretary  of  the 
American  Poultry  Association  from  1876  to  1883,  and  one  of  the  fore- 
most breeders  and  judges  in  his  day  and  generation. 

The  western  strain.  According  to  Bicknell,  the  Black  Java  was 
bred  in  Missouri  by  a  family  who  came  into  possession  of  three  eggs 
from  the  poultry  yard  of  a  doctor  who  bred  what  he  called  Javas. 
The  doctor  was  very  selfish  of  his  stock,  so  his  coachman  "borrowed" 
three  eggs  and  from  the  chickens  hatched  from  these  eggs,  "the 
American  Javas,"  says  Bicknell,  "have  all  descended." 

The  breed  was  first  brought  into  Duchess  county,  New  York,  in 
1857,  by  a  family  who  moved  there  from  Missouri.  From  this  source 
the  eastern  flocks  were  established.  Until  about  1880  the  variety  was 
little  known,  but  by  1890  were  well  known  fowl  and  more  popular 
than  at  the  present  time. 

231 


232 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


Black  sports  from  the  early  flocks  of  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks 
undoubtedly  contributed  many  specimens  to  the  Black  Java  breed 
during  the  years  of  1880  to  1890. 

The  eastern  strain.  Dr.  W.  H.  Harwood,  New  York  State, 
whose  Black  Javas  we.re  reported  to  be  of  pure  Bicknell  strain,  issued 
a  mating  list  in  1920  in  which  he  gave  an  antiquity  to  the  origin  of 
the  breed  which  was  contrary  to  the  breed's  history  recorded  by 
Bicknell.  Dr.  Harwood  stated: 

This  is  not  an  American  breed,  as  has  been  commonly  supposed,  but  comes,  as 
its  name  indicates,  from  the  isle  of  Java,  in  the  East  Indies.  About  1835  an  old 
New  England  sea  captain  who  made  many  voyages  to  the  East  Indies  brought 
home  some  of  these  fowls  and  presented  them,  to  a  friend,  Amasa  Converse,  of 
Northampton,  Massachusetts.  He  in  turn  presented  some  of  these  fowls  to  a  niece, 
who  afterward  became  Mrs.  Lyman  J.  Tower.  Everyone  agrees  that  these  fowls 
were  as  finished  and  well  established  a  breed  in  their  earliest  years  in  this  country 
as  the  breed  is  now.  Mrs.  Tower,  unlike  the  Missouri  doctor  of  whom  we  have 
heard  so  much,  freely  furnished  her  neighbors  with  this  stock  until  there  was  in 
Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts,  many  families  breeding  them.  No  doubt  the 
Missouri  doctor  obtained  his  stock  from  this  source.  It  is  due  to  J.  Y.  Bicknell 
and  his  associates,  C.  S.  Whiting,  G.  M.  Mathews  and  others,  that  the  Missouri 
line  became  so  prominent.  I  have  my  information  concerning  the  origin  of  tne 
Black  Javas  in  this  country  from  J.  Lyman  Kelly,  of  Malone,  New  York,  formerly 
of  Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts,  who  was  a  grandson  of  Mrs.  Tower,  with 
whom  he  lived  when  a  boy,  and  who  gave  him  the  information  aforesaid. 


Undoubtedly  the  parties   referred  to   had 


Black  Javas  as  bred  by  Henry  C.  Turck,  Ohio,  and 
illustrated  in  the  American  Poultry  Journal,  De- 
cember, 1888.  Mr.  Turck  made  a  specialty  of  the 
variety  for  a  number  of  years.  Today  a  longer- 
bodied  bird  is  wanted  in  both  male  and  female.  The 
tail  of  the  male  is  altogether  too  high  to  meet  pres- 
ent requirements. 


what  they  called  Black 
Javas,  and  these  Black 
Javas  were  equally 
without  doubt  of 
Asiatic  origin  as 
claimed,  and  the  mod- 
ern Black  Javas  of  to- 
day are  descendants, 
with  modifications,  of 
the  imported  fowls. 
Just  as  the  Barred 
Plymouth  Rock  is  a 
descendant  from  the 
Black  Cochin  or  Java, 
so  is  the  modern  Black 
Java  a  descendant 
from  the  Black  Co- 
chin or  the  Java.  The 
confusion  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  early 
Black  Asiatic  fowls 
were  known  as  Black 
Javas  as  well  as  by 
the  name  of  Black 
Cochins. 


JAVAS  AND  BLACK  GIANTS 


233 


The  modern  Black  Java  is  an  American  production  and  is  a 
member  of  the  American  class  of  fowls.  The  typical  Java  has  a  long 
back  and  body  and  a  broad  feather,  but  in  other  respects  is  not  dis- 
similar to  the  Rock,  and  has  from  time  to  time  absorbed  the  material 
that  appeared  and  was  available  for  the  development  of  a  black 
variety  of  the  Plymouth  Rock  breed. 

Some  excellent  Black  Javas  have  been  shown  even  in  recent  years. 
Herbert  Link,  of  Laporte,  Indiana,  produced  some  very  fine  ones 
about  1912.  At  the  present  time,  however,  Black  Javas  are  exhibited 
rarely  at  the  poultry  shows  and  only  in  small  numbers.  As  a  Black 
Plymouth  Rock,  the  variety  might  be  more  popular.  A  black  plumagecl 
fowl  does  not  show  the  dirt  as  does  a  white  one,  and  when  William 
Cook  originated  the  Orpington  it  was  a  Black  Orpington,  designed 
for  poultrykeepers  in  London  and  the  environs  of  that  great  city. 
where  white  and  buff  fowls  became  dirty  and  less  attractive.  While 
some  people  object  to  black  pin  feathers,  their  conspicuous  presence 
is  a  guarantee  that  they  will  not  be  eaten;  and  altogether  a  black 
fowl  has  special  qualifications  which  should  commend  it. 

Characteristics  of  the  breed  and  mating.  The  Standard  recognizes 
the  Java  as  a  distinct  breed  and  requires  a  long  back  slightly  declin- 
ing to  tail.  One  characteristic  of  the  breed  is  black  or  nearly  black 
shanks,  with  bottoms  of  feet  yellow.  Willow  shanks  are  allowable  in 
cocks  and  hens,  but  objection- 
able in  cockerels  and  pullets. 
The  face  and  wattles  usually  are 
of  a  gypsy  color,  young  pullets 
usually  having  rather  dark  faces. 
The  surface  plumage  should  be 
a  lustrous  greenish  black  in  all 
sections.  White  in  under-color 
constitutes  a  serious  defect,  a 
dull  black  being  the  ideal  under- 
color. 

It  is  well  to  occasionally  breed 
a  female  that  is  dull  black  in 
surface  color.  This  is  a  rule  in 
mating  all  black  varieties.  If 
lustrous,  greenish-black  birds 
are  mated  together  for  two  or 
more  generations,  some  red 
feathers  may  appear  in  the  plu- 
mage. Purple  barring  in  the 
black,  the  bane  of  black  breed- 
ers, results  as  much  from  mat- 
ing together  birds  that  have  too 
much  green  sheen  as  from  lice, 
crowded,  damp  quarters  and 


Reproduction  of  the  frontispiece  to  the 
American  Poultry  Journal,  Sept.,  1886.  A 
pair  of  Mottled  Javas  as  bred  by  J.  Y. 
Bicknell  of  New  York  state.  Today  the 
old-fashioned  splashed  white  and  black 
effect  is  gone,  and  the  best  specimens  have 
a  black  ground  color,  each  feather  neatly 
mottled  at  the  tip  with  white.  A  con- 
structive breeder  can  make  of  the  Mottled 
Java  as  attractive  a  fowl  as  the  now  pop^ 
ular  Ancona, 


234  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

lack  of  care.  Bicknell  recommended  that  a  bird  showing  any  red 
feathers  never  be  bred. 

Mottled  Javas.  The  Mottled  Java  should  have  a  plumage  that  is 
mottled  with  black  and  white  throughout,  the  black  predominating. 
The  tendency  in  recent  years  has  been  to  breed  a  black  bird  mottled 
on  each  feather  with  a  tip  of  white.  This  is  a  darker  and  much  more 
beautiful  bird  than  where  the  black  and  white  is  broken  and  splashed. 
The  1st  and  2d  hens  at  the  New  York  State  Fair,  1919,  were  of  the 
darker  ground  color,  each  feather  ending  with  white.  More  such 
birds  can  be  bred  through  the  infusion  of  Black  Java  blood  into  the 
mottled  variety.  The  Mottled  Java  was  originated  in  1872  by  a  cross 
of  a  Black  Java  cock  with  a  large  white  hen.  The  hen  was  from  a 
flock  prized  for  its  laying  qualities,  and  old  breeders  have  commented 
on  the  Mottled  Java  as  possessing  utility  qualities  that  were  superior 
to  those  of  the  Black  Java.  For  years  the  variety  was  bred  princi- 
pally for  utility.  More  recently  specimens  have  become  scarce,  and 
new  Mottled  Javas  have  been  produced  from  White  Rock  crosses. 
The  majority  of  these  recent  productions,  however,  have  had  yellow 
shanks,  whereas  the  true  Mottled  Java  has  shanks  that  are  leaden 
blue  in  color,  broken  with  yellow. 

The  Houdan  originally  had  a  broken  black  and  white  plumage, 
also  the  Ancona.  It  is  well  known  what  beautiful  white  tipping  is 
today  bred  on  these  breeds,  and  a  breeder  who  takes  up  the  Mottled 
Java  can  make  out  of  it  one  of  the  most  beautiful  fowls  in  the 
American  class.  It  affords  the  basis  on  which  to  work.  It  should 
not  be  bred  as  dark  as  the  modern  Houdan  or  Ancona,  in  which  one 
feather  in  five  is  tipped  with  white.  The  Mottled  Java  may  be  bred 
with  each  feather  tipped  with  white. 

White  Javas.  White  Javas  are  today  extinct.  They  were  pro- 
duced in  the  yards  of  Henry  C.  Turck,  Elmwood  Place,  Ohio,  and 
shown  by  him  at  the  American  Fat  Stock  Show,  Chicago,  November, 
1888.  The  Whites  were  sports  of  the  Blacks.  They  had  yellow  shanks. 
They  were  admitted  to  the  Standard  along  with  the  White  Plymouth 
Rocks.  However,  when  admitted,  the  Standard  was  made  to  read  that 
Javas  were  to  have  willow  shanks,  with  the  result  that  the  existing 
stock  turned  into  White  Rocks  and  the  variety  died  out. 

Black  Giants 

Black  Giants  were  originated  in  Burlington  county,  New  Jersey. 
It  is  in  New  Jersey  that  the  famous  Philadelphia  chickens  are  grown. 
They  are  really  Burlington  county  capons.  It  was  there  that  John 
and  Thomas  Black,  along  in  the  eighties,  bred  a  giant  mongrel  black 
chicken  which  today  bears  the  name  of  Black  Giants.  These  birds 
carry  Partridge  Cochin  and  Dark  Brahma  blood,  two  breeds  that 
always  have  entered  largely  into  the  production  of  Philadelphia 
chickens;  for  a  dark  colored  fowl  for  breeding  purposes  always  has 
been  considered  the  stronger  by  Burlington  county  farmers. 


JAVAS  AND  BLACK  GIANTS  235 

In  New  England  this  opinion  is  reversed,  and  down  the  shore 
south  of  Boston,  where  the  famous  soft-roasting  capons  are  pro- 
duced, the  Light  Brahma  with  its  white  body  and  the  White  Plymouth 
Rock  have  been  prime  favorites  for  many  years. 

These  keen  eastern  farmers,  tilling  the  sands  of  Jersey  or  picking 
up  rocks  in  New  England,  have  been  obliged  to  watch  the  details  of 
their  income.  They  have  found  that  a  capon  at  forty-five  cents  a 
pound  is  a  better  sell  than  a  rooster  at  twenty-two  cents.  And  the 
chefs  in  Boston  and  New  York  hotels  are  not  jeopardizing  their  jobs 
by  stewing  stag  roosters;  they  are  setting  before  the  epicures  in 
their  dining-rooms  roasted  chicken  as  soft  and  sweet  as  a  broiler  and 
as  big  as  a  turkey. 

The  Black  Giant,  like  the  Black  Java,  has  a  single  comb,  black 
shanks  with  yellow  bottoms  to  feet,  a  dark  brown  eye  approaching 
black,  a  pure  black  plumage,  and  the  females  lay  brown-shelled  eggs 
of  good  size.  The  Giant,  however,  has  a  larger,  rounder,  deeper  body 
than  the  Java.  While  the  Java  is  shaped  more  like  a  Rhode  Island 
Red,  a  Black  Giant  female  is  more  on  the  massive  order  of  a  big- 
bodied  Plymouth  Rock. 

Serious  color  defects  in  the  females  of  this  variety  are  brownish 
cast  or  gray  in  the  plumage.  White  in  the  under-color  or  red  in  the 
surface  are  serious  defects  more  common  to  the  males  of  black 
varieties.  Size  and  flesh  qualities  are  of  first  importance  in  the 
Black  Giant. 

There  probably  have  been  as  many  Black  Javas  bred  in  New 
Jersey  and  Eastern  Pennsylvania  as  in  any  other  one  section  in  Amer- 
ica: and  the  modern  Black  Giant  carries  some  Black  Java  blood,  some 
Cornish  Indian  game  blood,  and  possibly  a,  trace  of  Black  Langshan 
blood.  It  is  a  standard  bred,  compared  to  'the  original  feather-legged 
Black  Giants  of  New  Jersey.  Some  really  fine  Black  Giants  were 
shown  in  1919  and  1920.  and  the  breed  undoubtedly  has  a  future. 
U.  L.  Meloney  of  New  Jersey  has  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  Black  Giant. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
AMERICAN    DOMINIQUES 

The  oldest  American  variety — Not  merely  a   Rose   Comb   Barred 
Rock — Double  mating  not  required  in  breeding 

Prior  to  the  introduction  of  the  Barred  Plymouth  Rock  the  Domi- 
nique was  increasing  in  favor  among  the  farmers  of  the  eastern  United 
States.  There  is  no  definite  evidence  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Domi- 
nique. The  breed  is  looked  upon  as  the  oldest  American  variety,  and 
is  believed  to  have  been  produced  by  the  crossing  of  the  common 
hawk-colored  stock  in  the  country.  The  breeds  that  entered  into  this 
cross-breeding  are  unknown,  but  the  earliest  pictures  of  Dominiques 
were  suggestive  of  the  English  Dorking.  Possibly  some  English 
Hamburg  blood  entered  into  the  makeup  of  the  Dominique,  and  a 
French  cuckoo  colored  fowl  is  also  referred  to. 

Utility  qualities.  The  Dominique  was  a  progenitor  of  the  modern 
Barred  Plymouth  Rock.  It  is  smaller  than  the  Rock,  more  active, 
an  excellent  layer,  and  for  table  purposes  the  flesh  is  found  to  be 
well  distributed.  The  birds  stand  confinement  or  make  good  foragers 
when  on  range. 

Many  people  want  a  rose  combed  fowl.  They  also  prefer  an  inter- 
mediate one  in  size — something  between  the  Leghorn  and  the  Rock; 
one  as  active  and  as  prolific  a  layer  as  the  Leghorn,  yet  carrying 
some  of  the  meat  properties  of  the  Plymouth  Rock.  To  these  people 
may  be  recommended  the  old  Dominique.  As  chickens  the  birds  of 
this  breed  feather  more  quickly  than  those  of  the  Rock,  mature  more 
quickly,  and  are  more  active.  As  layers  they  produce  a  firmly 
shelled  egg  of  good  size  and  from  light  brown  to  dark  brown  in 
color  of  shell. 

In  the  showroom  and  breeding  yard.  The  Dominique  has  much 
more  plumage  than  the  Plymouth  Rock,  and  birds  in  the  showroom 
should  present  the  true  Dominique  type.  A  great  many  cross-bred 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  are  entered  at  the  fairs  as  American  Domi- 
niques because  pumpkin  show  judges  are  prone  to  give  the  awards 
to  straight,  even  barred  specimens.  The  fact  is  that  the  barring  of 
the  Dominique  is  not  the  same  straight  across  the  feather  barring 
found  in  the  Rock,  nor  does  it  show  the  same  black  and  white  con- 
trasts between  the  light  and  dark  bar.  The  Standard  calls  for  irregular 
barring,  and  the  color  should  be  of  a  bluish  tone.  This  bluish  hue  is 
obtained  by  the  light  bar  being  slightly  gray  and  the  dark  bar  not 
being  too  intense  in  color.  On  full-blooded  birds  the  last  bar  at  the 
tip  of  the  feather  is  shaped  like  a  new  moon,  and  is  not  a  straight- 
across-the-feather  bar. 

Mating.  Double  mating  is  not  required,  as  the  Standard  calls  for 

236 


AMERICAN   DOMINIQUES 


237 


a  male  one  or  two  shades  lighter  than  the  female.  The  Standard 
under-color  is  slate.  The  Dominique  has  a  rose  comb,  being  unlike 
the  Plymouth  Rock  in  respect  to  comb.i  The  Standard  weights  are: 
cock,  7  pounds;  cockerel,  6  pounds;  hen,  5  pounds;  pullet,  4  pounds. 


American  Dominique,   Male  and  Female. 


238 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


Rhode  Island  Red  Cockerel.  Winner  of  first  prize  at 
the  Madison  Square  Garden  (New  York)  Show,  Janu- 
ary, 1920.  Owned  by  Prospect  Farm,  New  Jersey. 

The  type  of  this  bird  has  been  the  subject  of  more 
study  than  any  other  male  in  the  history  of  the  breed. 
His  type  was  the  basis  of  an  outline  of  an  ideal  male 
prepared  for  the  Rhode  Island  Red  Club  of  America. 
This  male  has  a  flat,  level  back  and  desired  length  of 
body,  together  with  a  big  body  of  good  substance.  It  is 
an  oblong  body  like  a  brick  laid  on  edge,  which  is  ideal. 
He  is  neither  narrow  and  thin,  nor  too  long  on  legs. 

In  color,  this  cockerel  was  an  even  shade  of  rich  toned 
red,  one  color  all  over,  and  very  rich  in  undercolor. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
RHODE  ISLAND  REDS. 

A  Fine  utility  type — Importance  of  the  oblong  body — Too  much  size 
is  not  typical  of  the  prolific  Red — The  Little  Compton  district  in 
Rhode  Island  where  the  breed  originated — The  early  improvers  of  the 
stock — Recognized  as  a  Standardbred — Correct  mating. 

The  Rhode  Island  Red  stands  in  the  forefront  as  a  Standard 
breed  which  combines  a  maximum  of  utility  and  beauty. 

The  long  body  and  deep  abdomen  of  the  typical  female  allow  for 
big  intestinal  development  and  large  egg  capacity. 

Some  selective  breeding  is,  of  course,  necessary  to  maintain  the 
egg  qualities.  Because  of  the  Indian  Game  blood  in  the  breed,  some 
of  the  females  show  the  trait  in  wrinkled  faces;  and  a  wrinkled,  puffed 
face  in  either  male  or  female  augurs  against  heavy  egg  laying  inclina- 
tions. It  has  been  found  that  the  smooth  faced  females,  fine  in  texture 
of  the  skin,  are  the  best  layers. 

Length,  height  and  width.  Length  of  body  should  not  be  over- 
done, for  excesses  in  any  direction  are  detrimental.  A  breeder  who 
develops  any  one  point  to  the  extreme,  pays  a  penalty  which  is  exacted 
by  an  inexorable  Nature.  The  wise  breeder  realizes  the  practical 
value  of  a  well  balanced  fowl,  and  is  not  led  astray  in  an  effort  to 
develop  length  to  an  excessive  extent. 

There  is  the  same  amount  of  bone  in  one  Rhode  Island  Red  as  in 
another  of  equal  weight.  If  an  extreme  length  is  obtained,  it  is 
gained  at  a  loss  of  width.  The  bird  is,  therefore,  long  in  body,  but 
narrow  across  the  hips  and  not  thick  through  the  breast  and  body. 
Such  a  specimen  will  present  a  nice  side  view,  but  a  good  breeder 
will  remark  that  such  a  bird  lacks  substance. 

The  carriage  of  a  Rhode  Island  Red  is  important.  A  bird,  to 
have  the  right  bearing,  should  have  sufficient  station,  which  is  secured 
by  legs  of  proper  length.  The  leg  comprises  two  sections,  the  drum- 
stick and  the  shank.  Commonly  the  shank  is  of  sufficient  length, 
but  from  the  hock  joint  up,  the  so-called  thigh  is  apt  to  be  too  short. 

It  is  easy  to  get  the  desired  length  of  leg  coupled  with  a  long 
back.  But  as  already  pointed  out,  excessive  length  of  back  is  secured 
at  the  expense  of  thickness  of  body;  and  length  of  legs  in  such  a 
bird  is  secured  with  a  loss  of  muscle  or  meat  on  the  drumstick,  and 
there  is  absent  that  desirable  spread  between  the  legs  which  is  sug- 
gestive of  good  under  pinning  and  a  strong  body. 

How,  then,  are  birds  of  good  length  of  back  and  legs,  combined 
with  good  width,  produced?  They  are  produced  only  in  one  way, 
i.  e.,  by  breeding  big  size.  A  big  bird  has  a  longer  back  because  of 

239 


240  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

his  increased  size,  and  he,  therefore,  has  the  desired  length  without 
narrowness.  If  you  seek  to  breed  length  as  an  independent  factor, 
you  will  find  that  nature  puts  only  so  much  boney  framework  in  each 
bird,  and  that  length  cannot  be  secured  except  by  sacrificing  width; 
but  if  you  breed  a  bird  that  is  bigger  than  the  birds  of  your  com- 
petitors, you  will  naturally  have  a  longer  and  broader  carcass. 

Size  and  egg  production.  This  partly  accounts  for  the  tendency 
among  breeders  and  judges  to  emphasize  the  value  of  size  in  Rhode 
Island  Reds.  Their  preference  in  this  matter,  however,  has  not 
amounted  to  a  craze  for  size.  While  strong  bodies  of  good  substance 
are  desired,  it  is  well  known  that  the  average  man  thinks  of  chickens 
in  terms  of  eggs,  and  that  the  popularity  of  the  Rhode  Island  Red 
females  as  layers  may  be  lost  by  breeding  an  excess  of  size  which 
is  unavoidably  associated  with  slower  maturity,  coarseness  of  bone 
and  sluggishness  of  action.  Although  the  Standard  weight  pullet  of 
5  Ibs.  is  usually  too  small  for  exhibition  purposes,  there  is  a  certain 
merit  in  her  type  that  the  founders  of  the  breed  sought  to  perpet- 
uate, and  a  judge  who  awards  a  9^-lb.  cockerel  is  losing  sight  of 
the  economic  properties  of  the  active,  early  maturing  red  hen  on 
which  the  popularity  of  the  breed  has  been  built. 

Early  history  as  a  farm  fowl  in  Rhode  Island.  What  might  be 
termed  the  birthplace,  it  was  at  least  the  stronghold,  of  red  plumaged 
fowls,  was  the  Little  Compton  district  in  Rhode  Island.  For  many 
years  the  farmers  of  this  district  had  raised  ever-increasing  quantities 
of  fowls  for  egg  production.  Red  hens  were  the  predominant  sort. 
It  was  in  the  nineties  of  the  last  century  that  the  poultry  in 
this  district  attracted  the  attention  of  Dr.  N.  B.  Aldrich,  Roland  G. 
Ruffington,  Daniel  P.  Shove,  Samuel  Cushman  and  others  not  so 
widely  known,  and  they  adopted  some  of  the  red  stock  and  soon 
evolved  it  into  what  is  now  so  widely  known  as  the  Rhode  Island 
Red  breed  of  poultry. 

The  Little  Compton  district  is  sectional  -geographically.  It  is  the 
southeast  portion  of  Rhode  Island,  and  is  bounded  by  the  Sakonnet 
Sound  on  the  west,  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  south  and  the  West- 
port  River  on  the  east.  This  eastern  portion  includes  a  small  part 
of  Massachusetts.  No  railroad  or  trolley  line  penetrates  the  district, 
although  of  recent  years  an  automobile  bus  line  has  operated  between 
Little  Compton  and  the  nearest  railroad  station,  Tiverton,  R.  I. 

The  chickens  of  the  district  are  colony  farmed  for  eggs  and  are 
housed  in  colony  houses,  which  are  surprisingly  uniform  in  size  and 
construction.  They  are  8x12  ft.  on  the  ground,  the  front  and  rear 
are  6  ft.  high  and  the  apex  of  the  roof  is  9  ft.  high.  Forty  to  forty- 
five  birds  are  put  in  each  house.  The  birds  are  out  of  doors  nearly 
all  day.  There  are  probably  not  more  than  two  weeks  during  the  win- 
ter when  they  must  remain  indoors.  There  is  little  snow,  for  the 
"salt  air"  from  the  ocean  cuts  it.  One  or  two  glass  windows  and  a 


RHODE  ISLAND  REDS 


241 


board  door  are  on  the  south  side  of  each  house.  There  are  no  drop- 
pings boards,  neither  are  there  any  runs.  The  houses  are  not  close 
together  but  are  scattered  over  the  fields  and  pasture  lots,  and  cattle 
are  often  kept  in  the  same  fields  with  the  fowls.  The  birds  are  rugged, 
out-of-door  stock  that  obtain  a  large  amount  of  natural  food  in 
foraging. 

This  colony  plan  of  housing  and  the  red  hens  of  the  Rhode  Island 
farmers  were  at  last  discovered  and  the  poultry  world  has  reaped  the 
benefit, — thanks  to  the  pioneers  who  explored. 

In  the  old  days  when  49  dozen  egg  cases  were  used,  it  was  reported 
that  one  buyer,  in  the  district,  secured  a  load  of  50  of  these  big 
cases  in  a  single  trip,  making  his  day's  collection  nearly  30,000  eggs. 
This  was  done  in  the  spring,  and  five  or  six  other  men  were  collecting 
eggs  at  the  same  time  along  their  respective  routes.  As  a  further 
illustration  of  the  value  of  the  ancestors  of  the  modern  Reds,  it  may 
be  stated  on  good  authority  that  plying  between  Westport,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  a  small  boat  that  made 
about  25  round  trips  each  year,  between  1827  and  1850,  averaged  to 
the  load  about  400  dozens  of  eggs  each  trip. 

The   Little   Compton    district   has   been   a   melting  pot  for   Asiatic, 
Mediterranean  and   English  stock,  and  the  visitor  to  the  district  of  a 
few  years  ago  saw  chick- 
ens   that    were    plainly    a 
composition      of      varying 
types,  but  the   dominating 
color  was  red. 

Wm.  Tripp  of  Little 
Compton  and  John  Ma- 
comber  of  Westport  were 
the  early  improvers  of  the 
stock  in  the  district.  Both 
of  them  ran  teams  to  the 
New  Bedford,  Massachu- 
setts, market  as  market- 
men.  "They  took  the  mat- 
ter in  hand  (about  1854) 
to  see  if  they  could  not,  by 
crossing  different  strains 
of  fowls,  get  better  layers 
than  the  fowls  in  the  sur- 
rounding country  and  also 
better  looking  poultry  for 
market.  The  result  of  their 
trials  was  the  production 
of  the  so-called  Rhode 
Island  Reds  today.  Pre-  s-  C  Rhode  Island  Red  cock  heading  1st  old 
,  pen,  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York,  Jan., 

V10US     to     that    they     were        192o.      Owned   by    Harold    Tompkins,    Mass. 


242 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


called  the  'John  Macomber'  or  the  'Tripp'  fowls." — Thus  wrote  Capt. 
B.  E.  Tripp,  son  of  Wm.  Tripp,  in  a  letter,  January  17,  1900,  which 
was  published  by  the  Rhode  Island  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
1901. 

Wm.  Tripp's  original  stock  of  red  fowls  came  from  crossing  red 
Malay  Games  and  reddish-colored  Shanghais.  The  surplus  cockerels 
of  this  stock  were  introduced  into  a  number  of  the  farm  flocks. 
However,  every  conceivable  sort  of  crossing  was  resorted  to  as  time 
passed  on.  Brown  Leghorns  and  Cornish  Indian  Games  were  later 
employed,  and  it  has  been  said  with  a  considerable  measure  of  truth, 
that  every  great  breed  that  became  known  in  America  found  its  way 
into  the  flocks  of  the  Rhode  Island  farmers. 

It  was  about  1895  that  the  red  stock  of  the  district  began  to  attract 
the  attention  of  breeders.  Dr.  B.  N.  Aldrich  who  lived  at  Fall  River, 
Massachusetts,  made  frequent  trips  into  the  district.  Red  chickens 
were  to  be  found  in  such  vast  numbers  that  they  provided  a  wide 
field  for  selection.  Numbers  always  afford  selection,  and  Dr.  Aldrich, 
who  was  an  experienced  fancier,  went  through  the  flocks  seeking  out 
those  birds  that  measured  well  up  to  the  Standard  he  had  in  mind. 

From  1900  to  1910.  the  breed  made  rapid  progress.  It  came  out 
of  obscurity  about  1900,  and  by  the  end  of  the  decade  had  not  only 
been  taken  up  by  many  poultrymen  throughout  New  England,  but 

its  popularity  stretched 
westward  to  the  Pacific 
Coast. 

It  was  the  intrinsic 
merit  of  the  fowl  that 
won  for  it  its  popular- 
ity. At  the  outset  the 
Red  had  to  prove  its 
worth.  Not  since  the 
advent  of  the  Barred 
Plymouth  Rock  had  a 
new  breed  been  pre- 
sented to  the  public 
that  was  more  emphat- 
ically and  persistently 
decried  as  a  mongrel  of 
the  barnyards.  While 
the  champions  of  Rhode 
Island  Reds  were  bat- 
tling for  their  favorites, 
and  the  birds  them- 
selves were  overcoming 

Single  Comb  Rhode  Island  Red  Pullet.  A  first  prize  P^eJudice  b^  ^  force 
winner  at  Boston.  Owned  by  Owen  Farms,  Mass.  Of  their  Utility  quail- 


RHODE  ISLAND  REDS  243 

ties,  productiveness  and  usefulness,  a  dozen  other  new  varieties,  as  the 
creation  of  fanciers,  came  upon  the  scene.  Today  the  Red  excels 
them  all  as  the  sun  excels  the  moon.  It  has  proved  to  be  the  most 
permanent  success  of  any  new  breed  in  recent  years. 

The  Red  was  the  more  lastingly  built.  The  work  of  man  is  great, 
but  the  work  of  nature  is  greater.  Nature  co-operated  in  making 
the  Rhode  Island  Red.  The  race,  in  the  long  years  of  Its  beginning, 
enjoyed  the  liberty  of  the  farm  yards  and  open  fields;  the  birds  were 
grown  rugged,  not  soft;  they  roughed  it  and  were  not  pampered;  and 
nature  helped  to  weed  out  the  physically  undesirable.  Unaided  by 
nature,  they  would  not  have  succumbed  to  circumstances  and  their 
constitutional  taint  would  have  been  reproduced. 

Nature's  contributions  to  the  Red  were  assured  health,  without 
which  there  cannot  be  productiveness,  activity  and  early  maturity. 
As  a  new  Standardised,  the  breeders  of  poultry  received  the  Red 
with  all  its  virgin  fertility;  as  vigorous,  healthy  fowls,  good  foragers, 
fast  growers,  prolific. 

The  birds  were  first  exhibited  as  Rhode  Island  Reds  by  Richard  V. 
Browning  of  Natick,  Massachusetts,  at  the  Providence  (Rhode  Island) 
Show,  1895,  the  early  exhibits  were  a  motley,  uneven  lot  of  birds. 
Nothing  ever  looked  more  like  farm-yard  fowls.  There  appeared  to 
be  no  "established  blood"  in  their  veins,  but  the  fowls  proved  to  be 
rough,  unfinished  diamonds  that  have  since  become  gems  in  the  set- 
ting of  poultry  culture  in  America. 

In  February,  1898,  the  Rhode  Island  Red  Club  of  America  was 
organized  in  the  Coffee  Tavern,  Fall  River,  Massachusetts.  Daniel 
P.  Shove  was  the  first  president. 

The  first  Standard  was  drafted  by  the  Club,  and  it  called  for  a 
color  of  plumage  as  follows: 

General  surface  rich  brilliant  red  except  when  black  is  desired.  Free  from  shaft- 
ing, mealy  appearance  or  brassy  effect.  Depth  of  color  (red)  is  slightly  accentuated 
on  wing  bows  and  back,  but  the  least  contrast  between  these  parts  and  the  hackle 
or  breast  the  better;  a  harmonious  blending  is  what  is  desired.  The  bird  should  be 
so  brilliant  in  luster  as  to  have  a  glossed  appearance.  Other  things  being  equal 
the  specimen  having  the  deepest  and  richest  red,  salmon,  or  buff  undercolor  shall 
receive  the  award.  Any  smut  or  white  in  the  undercolor  is  to  be  cut  hard.  The 
quill  of  the  feather  should  be  red  or  salmon.  White  showing  on  the  outside  of  the 
body  is  to  be  cut  harder  than  white  that  is  out  of  sight.  Black  is  desired  in  the 
u.nder-web  of  the  wing  flights.  The  main  tail  feathers  and  two  main  sickle  feathers 
are  to  be  black  or  greenish  black.  The  greater  tail  coverts  are  mainly  black,  but 
as  they  approach  the  saddle  they  may  become  russet  or  red.  The  blending  of  the 
red  body  with  the  black  tail  is  gradual,  thus  preventing  any  sudden  contrast.  With 
the  saddle  parted,  showing  the  undercolor  at  the  base  of  the  tail,  the  appearance 
should  Ve  red  or  salmon,  not  whitish  or  smoky.  The  hackle  should  be  free  from 
black,  although  a  suspicion  of  black,  that  can  hardly  be  found,  would  not  cut  the 
bird  much.  White  in  hackle  will  be  cut  harder  than  black.  The  wing  bars  should 
be  free  from  black,  and  all  black  in  the  primaries  and  secondaries  should  be  out 
of  sight  when  the  wing  is  folded. 

The  early  breeders  knew  that  the  color  of  their  birds  would  have 
to  be  improved,  and  it  is  truly  remarkable  how  definitely  and  accu- 
rately they  laid  down  the  rules  and  specifications  for  an  ideal  red 


244  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

color.  There  has  been  no  change  in  the  Club  Standard  as  far  as  the 
aims  and  ideals  of  breeders  are  concerned,  except  to  eliminate  the 
accentuation  of  red  over  the  wing-bows  and  produce  one  even  shade 
of  rich  brilliant  red;  hackle,  back  and  wing-bow  matching;  and  then 
to  breed  this  color  as  rich  as  possible  down  to  the  skin. 

The  Single  Comb  Rhode  Island  Reds  were  admitted  to  the  Stand- 
ard in  1904.  The  Rose  Comb  Rhode  Island  Reds  were  admitted  to 
the  Standard  at  Minneapolis,  Feb.  13,  1905,  as  American  Reds.  F.  D. 
Baerman  of  Dunellen,  New  Jersey,  a  prominent  breeder  of  the  time, 
was  influential  in  having  the  Minneapolis  meeting  of  the  American 
Poultry  Association,  adopt  the  name  of  "American  Reds."  A  storm 
of  protest  followed  this  action,  and  Chas.  M.  Bryant  of  Wollaston, 
Massachusetts,  was  instrumental  in  changing  the  name  to  Rose  Comb 
Rhode  Island  Reds  at  a  special  meeting  held  in  Pittsburgh,  April  14, 
1905,  which  meeting  rescinded  the  action  of  the  Minneapolis  conven- 
tion. 

The  Revision  Committee  that  had  charge  of  the  1915  Standard 
dropped  the  name  Rhode  Island,  and  called  the  varieties  simply  Single 
and  Rose  Comb  Reds,  but  the  breeders  again  protested  and  the  name 
remains  as  originally  adopted. 

Mating  Rhode  Island  Reds.  The  good  specimens  of  no  other  breed 
are  more  widely  distributed  than  those  of  the  Rhode  Island  Red 
breed.  This  accounts  in  part  for  the  big  classes  of  Reds  seen  in  the 
poultry  exhibitions.  So  many  breeders  have  some  of  the  best  quality 
that  a  large  number  of  different  breeders  are  able  to  compete  in  the 
large  shows.  No  one  or  two  breeders  have  a  patent  on  the  produc- 
tion of  fine  quality  Reds. 

This  wide  distribution  of  good  birds  is  a  good  thing  for  the  breed. 
Small  breeders  are  encouraged  to  go  forward,  and  the  interest  in 
Rhode  Island  Reds  is  kept  at  a  high  point.  While  the  problems  of 
mating  require  close  study,  they  may  be  mastered,  as  the  successes 
of  countless  breeders  testify. 

The  darkest  feathers  in  a  Rhode  Island  Red  hen  may  be  taken  as 
the  measure  of  her  breeding  value.  The  hackle  is  usually  the  darkest 
red  section  of  the  female.  If  you  are  to  produce  rich  colored  cockerels 
you  must  have  a  rich  hackle  in  your  females.  If  there  are  black  stripes 
in  the  female's  hackle,  her.  cockerels  will  show  the  same  fault.  If  the 
female's  hackle  is  orange  colored,  in  part  or  whole,  her  cockerels  will 
be  light  in  color  of  neck.  If  the  female  has  black  peppering  on  the 
wing-bow  the  same  defect  will  show  in  a  number  of  her  cockerels. 
The  breeder  can  get  a  good  line  on  the  breeding  value  of  his  females 
by  their  darkest  feathers. 

Evenness  of  red  color  is  of  major  importance.  There  should  be  a 
coat  of  one  shade  of  level  color.  Two  colored  males  are  of  no  value. 
A  bird  that  is  of  rich  red  over  wingbows  and  top  of  back  and  of 
orange  color  in  lower  hackle  and  saddle,  shows  poor  breeding.  Orange 


RHODE  ISLAND  REDS  245 

is  not  red;  it  is  a  first  cousin  to  the  old  "punkin"  colored  necks  of  the 
early  days  of  the  breed. 

The  male's  breast  is  of  more  importance  than  some  breeders  attach 
to  this  section.  It  should  be  rich  and  lustrous  and  free  from  shafting 
or  lacing.  Good  colored  females  cannot  be  bred  from  males  that  are 
faulty  in  breast  color. 

White  in  the  wings  is  a  bad  fault,  but  one  that  may  be  caused  in 
well  bred  birds  through  faulty  feeding  and  cooping  when  the  chickens 
were  growing. 

Slate  is  a  fault,  but  an  otherwise  good  bird  is  sometimes  bred  if  it 
carries  a  bar  of  blue  color  in  the  under  plumage.  It  will  be  found  that 
some  cockerels  and  pullets  show  this  slate  in  their  first  chick  feathers 
and  then  come  in  clear  red,  down  to  the  skin,  when  they  drop  their 
chick  feathers  and  grow  their  adult  plumage.  Such  birds  should  not 
be  mated  together  or  they  will  produce  too  much  slate,  but  such  a 
bird  may  be  used  to  strengthen  and  reinforce  the  color,  and  such  an 
one  will  produce  more  good  colored  chicks  than  one  that  retains  the 
slate. 

Rich,  sound  red  undercolor  is  desired  in  a  show  bird  and  is  one 
of  the  points  which  influence  the  judges.  They  will  overlook  slight 
defects  in  comb,  legs  and  tail,  provided  the  bird  has  an  oblong  type 
"like  a  brick  set  edgewise,"  has  a  level  sheet  of  rich  red  color  and  has 
good  undercolor. 

It  seems  as  if  it  is  easiest  to  produce  good  undercolor  in  connec- 
tion with  a  surface  plumage  that  is  stringy  and  not  perfectly  webbed 
together.  A  hard  surfaced  plumage  is  frequently  associated  with  a 
lighter  tone  of  red  undercolor. 

These  rough  feathered  birds  are  often  of  the  darkest  shade  of  red 
on  the  surface.  It  may  be  that  the  color  is  due  partly  to  feather 
structure  as  well  as  pigment;  however,  the  rough  feathered  birds  are 
not  as  pleasing  in  appearance,  and  it  is  our  opinion  that  they  are  not 
as  good  utility  poultry  as  the  smooth  surfaced  birds.  Some  breeders 
occasionally  breed  a  rough  feathered  bird  to  reinforce  the  red  color  in 
their  stock. 

To  sum  up  this  problem  of  breeding  red  color,  we  would  say: 
A  male  to  sire  exhibition  pullets  must  have  a  rich,  red  breast,  free 
from   shafting  or  lacing;   free  from  black  ticking  on  wing-bows;  and 
he  should  be  rich  red  in  fluff. 

A  female  to  dam  exhibition  cockerels  must  have  a  dark,  rich  red 
hackle,  with  little  or  no  black  ticking  in  it;  and  be  red  in  undercolor 
of  back,  although  she  may  be  somewhat  patchy  in  surface  color  of 
back  and  body. 

When  both  male  and  female  of  a  mating  have  Standard  wings,  that 
is,  the  lower  webs  of  the  wing  primaries  are  marked  with  black,  some 
of  the  chicks  that  they  produce  may  carry  smut. 

A  female  with  red  flights,  that  is,  free  from  black  on  the  lower 


246  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

edges  of  the  flights,  may  be  mated  to  a  standard  winged  male,  or 
vice  versa.  When  standard  wings  are  bred  together  there  is  a  danger 
of  the  black  spilling  over  into  the  wing-bows  and  an  excess  of  slate 
color  showing  in  the  undercolor  of  the  back. 

A  bird  showing  smut  may  be  introduced  into  each  line  or  family 
about  every  third  generation,  or  whenever  the  undercolor  begins  to 
run  a  little  light.  Always  choose  a  smutty  bird  bred  from  sound  red 
undercolored  parents.  Birds  bred  from  a  mating  in  which  smut  was 
used  should  be  bred  to  clean  color. 

Slate  can  never  be  entirely  eliminated,  for  the  tails  of  Rhode  Island 
Reds  are  black,  and  there  is  that  black-red  combination  which  the 
breeder  must  segregate  to  their  respective  locations  and  then  hold 
in  place. 

There  is  practically  no  difference  between  the  Single  Comb  Red 
and  the  Rose  Comb  Red  except  in  comb.  The  Rose  Comb  needs  a 
little  more  attention  paid  to  selection  for  comb  than  the  Single  Comb, 
for  a  good  rose  comb  is  a  beautiful  character,  while  a  big,  loose  rose 
comb  with  a  hole  in  the  center  is  unsightly. 

If  the  breeder  will  watch  the  hackles  on  his  females,  the  breasts 
on  his  males,  the  undercolor  and  the  amount  of  black  in  wing  flights, 
he  will  have  the  necessary  checks  on  the  color  of  this  variety,  and  by 
holding  these  checks  he  will  be  able  to  blow  the  flame  of  his  red 
surface  color  until  it  is  a  bright,  rich  "burn  your  fingers"  red. 


Rose  Comb  Rhode  Island  Red  Cpck. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
RHODE    ISLAND    WHITES 

Origin,  utility  qualities  and  mating  of  this  variety 

There  are  today  two  varieties  of  Rhode  Island  Whites.  Single  and 
Rose  Comb. 

Rhode  Island  Whites  were  originated  by  J.  Alonzo  Jocoy,  who 
lived  in  the  state  of  Rhode  Island,  near  Peacedale.  He  bought  two 
White  Wyandotte  cockerels  in  1888.  These  birds  were  mated  with 
two  Partridge  Cochin  hens.  The  pullets  that  resulted  were  a  dirty 
buff;  they  had  rose  combs  and  clean  yellow  legs,  and  for  mongrels 
they  were  said  to  have  been  an  ideal  lot  of  birds. 

These  pullets  were  again  mated  with  Cochin  blood,  as  the  Cochin 
was  a  high-class  roaster-producing  fowl  in  that  day.  However,  the 
white  fowl  being  the  choice  of  Mr.  Jocoy,  because  it  made  the  better 
dressed  carcass,  the  pullets  from  the  second  Cochin  cross  were  mated 
with  a  Rose  Comb  White  Leghorn  male.  From  this  mating  he  raised 
over  a  hundred  chicks,  ten  of  which  were  pure  white,  and  of  the  ten, 
two  were  males  and  eight  were  females.  They  had  rose  combs  and 
clean  yellow  legs.  In  shape  they  resembled  the  Plymouth  Rock. 
The  eight  white  pullets  began  laying  before  they  were  six  months 
old.  The  breed  was  then  started  from  this  foundation.  Other  blood 
may  have  been  added  since;  on  this  there  are  no  authentic  records. 

A  dual  purpose  type.  The  Rhode  Island  White  is  a  general  pur- 
pose fowl;  it  has  both  meat, and  egg  properties.  One  of  the  finest 
flocks  of  growing  youngsters  we  ever  saw  were  Rhode  Island  Whites 
in  the  yards  of  a  Mr.  Gough  at  Peacedale,  Rhode  Island.  Eleven  years 
has  not  erased  the  memory  of  those  robust,  thrifty  young  chickens. 
The  birds  of  this  breed  have  yellow  skins  and  are  sitters.  The  breed 
is  bred  in  two  varieties,  rose  and  single  comb. 

Rhode  Island  Whites  have  been  making  records  in  the  egg-laying 
contents  of  the  country  since  1914.  In  1918  a  291  egg  hen  was  pro- 
duced in  the  All-Northwest  egg-laying  contest  at  Pullman,  Washing- 
ton. In  1919,  in  this  same  contest,  Rhode  Island  Whites  made  the 
best  breed  average,  and  in  the  same  year  at  the  National  egg-laying 
contest  at  Mountain  Grove,  Missouri,  they  broke  all  previous  egg 
records.  The  two  leading  pens  were  Rhode  Island  Whites.  One 
pen  of  five  birds  laid  1,217  eggs,  or  an  average  of  243.4;  the  second 
pen  averaged  233  eggs.  The  leading  hen  in  the  contest,  also  a  Rhode 
Island  White,  laid  306  eggs  for  the  year.  A  pen  of  Rhode  Island 
Whites  was  awarded  the  silver  cup  at  the  American  Egg  Laying 
Contest,  year  ending  Oct.  31,  1920,  for  the  highest  number  of  eggs 
laid  during  the  year.  The  pen  of  5  pullets  laid  1.208  eggs,  each  in- 
dividual laying  over  200,  the  highest  record  being  285. 

247 


248  THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 

Mating.  Type  is  of  primary  importance  in  Rhode  Island  Whites. 
There  is  no  breed  characteristic  such  as  the  rose  comb  of  the  Wyan- 
dotte, which  at  once  sets  it  apart  from  the  single  comb  Rock,  or 
white  shanks  such  as  are  possessed  by  the  White  Orpington  and 
which  at  once  set  it  apart  from  either  the  White  Wyandotte  or  White 
Rock.  It  is  easy  to  confuse  a  Rose  Comb  Rhode  Island  White  with 
a  White  Wyandotte,  or  a  Single  Comb  Rhode  Island  White  with  a 
White  Plymouth  Rock. 

Rhode  Island  Whites  depend  altogether  on  the  oblong  Rhode 
Island  -Red  body  type  to  give  them  the  distinctiveness  of  an  independ- 
ent variety.  Shape  is  therefore  of  paramount  importance  in  selecting 
birds  for  the  breeding  yard.  The  breeder  should  study  every  detail  of 
Rhode  Island  Red  type  and  select  birds  that  in  their  general  set-up 
conform  to  that  type.  Breeding  for  color  is  the  same  as  in  the 
White  Wyandottes  the  color  of  this  variety  needs  careful  attention. 

Missouri  Fluffs. 

This  is  a  new  variety  of  white  fowls  that  have  a  plumage  of  peculiar 
texture,  being  webless  and  silky,  due  to  the  barbs  not  being  hooked 
together.  Specimens  of  this  kind  have  been  known  to  appear  in 
flocks  of  Black  Langshans.  Rhode  Island  Reds,  Black  Orpingtons 
and  WThite  Rocks.  Several  flocks  of  fluffy  specimens  have  been 
developed,  and  the  names  of  White  Klondikes,  White  Fluffs,  etc., 
applied.  At  one  time  the  Klondikes  were  as  well  known  as  are  the 
Missouri  Fluffs  at  present. 


Rhode   Island   White   Pullet. 


CHAPTER  XXV 
BUCKEYES 

This  variety  is  distinct  from  the  Rhode  Island  Reds — Was  originated 

in  Ohio  and  known  for  a  time  as  the  Pea  Comb  Rhode  Island  Red — 

Males  are  better  colored  than  the  females 

The  Buckeye,  which  is  not  altogether  dissimilar  to  the  Rhode 
Island  Red,  was  produced  by  Mrs.  Nettie  Metcalf,  of  Warren,  Ohio, 
before  the  Reds  had  become  established  in  the  central  states.  When, 
in  1896,  she  learned  that  her  idea  of  a  red  fowl  was  not  really  new 
and  original,  and  that  Rhode  Island  Reds  had  been  worked  on  for 
some  years  in  the  east,  she  opened  up  correspondence  with  several 
of  the  eastern  Red  breeders,  exchanged  birds  and  eggs  with  some  of 
them,  and  followed  the  advice  of  one  of  them,  R.  G.  Buffington,  in 
dropping  the  name  Buckeye  Reds  and  calling  her  new  fowls  Rhode 
Island  Reds. 

The  Reds  were  being  bred  in  rose  and  single  comb  varieties,  and 
the  new  Buckeye  Reds  made  a  third  variety,  the  Pea  Comb  Rhode 
Island  Red.  But,  in  addition  to  comb,  the  fowls  of  Ohio  origin 
differed  from  the  Reds  of  Rhode  Island  in  having  more  of  the  Cornish 
Indian  Game  type  and  in  being  of  a  darker  shade  of  red.  It  was 
plain  that  this  new  pea  comb  variety  was  distinct,  and  Mrs.  Metcalf 
saw  that  instead  of  being  helped  by  being  identified  as  a  variety  of 
the  Rhode  Island  Red  breed,  the  Buckeye  Red  would  be  absorbed 
and  its  distinctiveness  lost,  so  in  1902  she  exhibited  a  pair  of  her 
birds  at  the  Cleveland  show  as  Buckeyes.  Mrs.  Metcalf  then  exhibited 
at  Indianapolis  and  at  Rochester,  and  having  thus  presented  her  new 
Buckeyes  for  public  inspection,  and  having  secured  the  necessary 
affidavits  from  breeders  as  to  the  ability  of  the  breed  to  reproduce 
true  to  type  and  color,  the  Buckeye  was  admitted  to  the  Standard  in 
1905.  Pea  Comb  Rhode  Island  Reds  then  began  to  disappear. 

Origin  of  the  Buckeyes.  Mrs.  Metcalf  took  up  the  breeding  of 
Barred  Plymouth  Rocks  when  the  variety  was  new  to  northeastern 
Ohio.  She  crossed  Buff  Cochin  cockerels  on  her  Rock  hens  and  pullets. 
"This  produced  a  big,  lazy  fowl,  so  I  looked  around  for  something 
else  to  mix  in."  She  then  secured  some  eggs  from  a  breeder  of 
Black  Breasted  Red  Games  and  raised  some  cockerels  which  were 
top-crossed  onto  the  Cochin-Rock  females. 

This  mating  produced  a  few  red  birds,  something  that  had  not 
been  seen  in  the  community  before,  and  aroused  Mrs.  Metcalf's  ambi- 
tion to  try  to  reproduce  them.  She  penned  up  two  pairs,  and,  writing 
in  later  years  of  the  results,  said: 

My,  what  a  flock  I  raised  that  year !  No  wonder  my  friends  laughed.  Green 
legs  and  feathered  legs,  buff  chicks,  black  chicks,  and  even  red-and-black  barred 

249 


250 


THE  AMERICAN  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY 


chicks;    single    combs    and    pea    combs    and    no    combs    at    all,    but    all    fighters    from 
away  back. 

Many  names  for  my  new  breed  suggested  themselves,  and  year  after  year  they 
bred  tru,er  to  the  type  I  had  in  mind,  which  was  a  modified  Cornish  shape,  with 
the  very  darkest  of  red  plumage,  hens  containing  some  black  not  being  objectionable 
to  me,  so  long  as  the  males  kept  that  dark  red  shade  I  admired. 

Characteristics  of  Buckeyes..  It  is  commonly  supposed  that  this 
variety  carries  some  Cornish  Indian  Game  blood,  but  the  originator 
does  not  so  state.  The  type  is  intermediate  between  that  of  the 
heavily  muscled,  big  boned,  hard  feathered  Cornish  and  the  Rhode 
Island  Red.  The  breed  has  a  close  fitting  pea  comb  and  small,  short 
wattles. 

This  variety  is  strictly  cockerel  bred,  the  originator  having  always 
selected  males  that  measured  up  to  her  requirements  and  then  got 


A    Pair   of   Buckeyes,    Showing    Correct    Buckeye   Type   in    Both 
Male   and   Female. 


the  females  as  good  as  they  would  come.  The  result  has  been  that 
good  Buckeye  females  have  been  very  few  in  numbers,  although  a 
number  of  fine  males  have  been  shown.  These  good  males  have  had 
greenish-black  tails  like  a  Rhode  Island  Red,  although  the  Standard 
allows  red  to  show  in  the  tail.  Red  usually  shows  in  the  tails  of 
females,  or  rather  it  is  a  dull,  wheaten-red  color. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  variety,  the-  Buckeyes  were  of  a  rich,  dark 
red  as  compared  to  the  majority  of  Rhode  Island  Reds.  Mrs.  Metcalf 
believed  that  the  plumage  should  be  bred  with  some  black  pigment  in 
the  under-color.  She  had  noticed  that  all  wild  birds  had  some  slate 
in  their  under-plumage  to  feed  the  depth  and  strength  of  color 
exhibited  by  their  surface  plumage,  so  the  Buckeye  male  and  female 


BUCKEYES 


251 


were  bred  with  a  slate  under-color  that  shaded  into  red  at  the  base, 
and  this  was  adopted  as  a  Standard  characteristic  of  the  Buckeye 
breed. 

Few  breeders  of  the  first  rate  have  ever  taken  up  Buckeyes,  but 
if  someone  will  come  into  the  leading  shows  with  fowls  of  this  breed 
bred  as  it  is  possible  to  breed  them,  they  will  find  a  large  opportu- 
nity for  profit.  A.  H.  Weisberg,  of  Missouri,  an^  Elton  C.  Mahon, 
of  Tennessee,  have  had  fine  Buckeyes.  A  variety  of  this  kind  only 
waits  for  a  keen  fancier  to  take  it  up.  The  breed  is  particularly  well 
fitted  for  a  cold  climate. 

At  the  New  York  State  'Fair,  September,  1920,  there  were  some  of 
the  best  Buckeyes  that  we  had  seen  in  five  years.  The  -winning 
cockerel  was  of  a  rich,  deep  toned  red,  one  level  shade  of  color  all 
over,  and  with  a  lustrous,  greenish-black  tail.  He  was  built  like  the 
bird  in  the  picture  on  this  page.  The  first  pullet  was  also  typical  of  the 
true  Buckeye,  and  rich  and  level  in  her  color. 

To  attract  attention,  males  of  this  variety  should  be  of  one  even 
shade  of  rich  red  in  neck,  back  and  wing  bows. ,  While  the  Standard 
allows  the  bird  to  be  of  a  darker  red  on  wing  bows  than  in  neck  or 
back,  no  two  colored  fowl  of  this  kind  can  receive  favorable  comment 
from  critical  fanciers.  We  would  advise  breeding  the  Rhode  Island 
Red  color  with  a  bar  of  slate  in  the  under-color  of  back. 


Typical    Buckeye    Male. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
PEDIGREE  RECORDS 

Toe   marking   and   leg  banding  for  the   purpose   of  identifying  the 

pedigrees    of    birds — Growing    opportunity    for    breeders    who    will 

accurately   and   honestly   pedigree-breed. 

Perhaps  no  book  on  breeds  and  breeding  is  quite  complete  unless 
it  details  methods  for  pedigreeing  the  progeny  of  matings.  At  least 
the  importance  of  such  pedigreeing  should  be  emphasized. 

There  is  scarcely  a  breeder  and  seller  of  purebred  fowls  but  what 
has  been  impressed  with  the  tendency  of  beginners  to  mate  so  many 
females  in  their  pens  that  they  are  unable  to  identify  the  individuals 
from  which  they  are  breeding,  with  the  result  that  recollections  of  the 
parentage  of  any  particular  cockerel  or  pullet  is  more  or  less  clouded 
and  confused. 

Breeding  should  be  carried  on  along  definite  lines.  Of  course,  ever 
since  poultry  has  been  bred,  not  merely  raised,  breeders  have  had  con- 
siderable information  concerning  the  heredity  of  their  birds.  As  a  rule, 
this  information  has  been  kept  in  simple  form,  such  as  toe  marks  in  the 

web  of  the  foot  between  the 
/K  y|\  g  /K  A\  toes.  Sixteen  different  toe  marks 

7  '  X      7 '  X  •    /ol  \       /°l  \      for    identification    purposes    can 

2  /°]\      /1\  /o   /1X       /1X      ke  kept  as  shown  herewith. 

/N         /K  /K          /K  ^^e     cnicks     may     be     web 

3  /IX      / 1\  //-    /o\\      /IX      punched,  or  toe   marked,   imme- 

A.  /K  yK  /K        diately     upon      being     removed 

•    /l\      /°\\    *          '    /o\\      /o\\      from   the   nest   with   the   hen   or 

<>     A\        A\  n     /K         A\       taken  from  the  incubator.     Any 

1   Jr       1       p°uitry  suppiy  st°re  shouid  be 

6    Xl\      /N  '*    /1X      XIX      able   to    suPP]y   a    toe    punch   at 

A          A  /K          A        sma11  cost  for  the  PurP0se. 

7-    /l\       /o\\  fs-    /o\\      /o\\  When  a  few  females  of  about 

/K         /K  /6     A\        A\       e(lual  quality,  which  are  full  sis- 

«    /Io\      /ol\  '•    /o|o\      /o|o\      ters    are  mated  to  Qne  ma]e>  toe 

Sixteen  Different  Toe^Marks  for  Identification     marking  is  a  satisfactory  means 

of    identifying    the     birds    from 

the  pen;  but  when  a  number  of  pens  are  mated,  and  females  of 
different  qualities  and  diverse  breeding  are  mated  in  each  pen,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  employ  trapnests,  that  the  full  parentage  of 
each  egg  may  be  identified  with  certainty,  and  then  band  each  chick. 
Each  hen  in  the  matings  should  carry  a  numbered  leg  band.  The 
band  number  of  the  hen  that  lays  an  egg  should  be  marked  with  pencil 
on  the  egg  when  it  is  taken  from  the  trapnest  and  the  hen  released. 

252 


PEDIGREE  RECORDS 


253 


The  process  of  banding  chicks  is  explained  in  the  following  quo- 
tation from  Rob.  R.  Slocum  who  has  had  charge  of  the  breeding  work 
on  the  poultry  farm  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  in  Mary- 
land : 

The  parentage  of  the  eggs  having  bee'n  identified,  the  eggs  are  then  set  in  an 
incubator  in  the  usual  manner,  receiving  exactly  the  same  treatment  as  any  other 
eggs  until  the  eighteenth  day.  On  this  date  the  eggs  are  sorted  out  according  to 
the  hens  which  laid  them,  the  eggs  from  any  individual  hen  being  placed  by  them- 
selves in  a  wire  basket  or  compartment,  or  in  a  pedigree  bag  made  of  bobi.net.  Both 
the  pedigree  baskets  arid  the  bobinet  bags  are  found  to  be  quite  satisfactory. 

The  baskets  allow  greater  freedon  for  the  chicks  after  they  are  hatched,  and 
may  interfere  to  a  slightly  less  degree  with  the  hatching  of  the  eggs.  The  bobinet 
bags  take  up  less  room  on  the  incubator  tray,  and  are  adapted  to  varying  numbers 
of  eggs  to  better  advantage.  The  ends  of  the  bags  are  closed  by  means  of  a  draw- 
string which  can  be  tied  tightly  so  as  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  chicks. 

When  the  eggs  are  placed  in  the  pedigree  compartments,  a  slip  of  paper  is  en- 
closed with  them  on  which  is  written  the  hen  number  and  pen  number  which  appears 
on  the  eggs.  This  is  "done  by  way  of  precaution,  so  that  if  the  eggshells  are  broken 
so  badly  during  the  process  of  hatching  that  it  is  impossible  to  decipher  the  numbers 
on  them,  the  record  will  be  available  on  the  slip  of  paper  and  the  parentage  of  the 
chicks  will  not  be  lost. 

When  the  eggs  are  hatched  under  hens,  only  eggs  from  one  hen  are  placed  in 
a  nest,  or  else  eggs  from  hens  of  different  breeds  or  varieties  where  the  color 
of  the  baby  chicks  is  so  different  that  the  chicks  can  be  distinguished  readily,  are 
hatched  together.  After  the  chicks  are  hatched  under  the  hens  they  are  banded  in 
the  same  manner  as  those  hatched  in  the  incubator. 


I 


Punching   a    Hole   in   the    Web   With     Strong,     Sturdy    Barred     Rock    Chick    With 
a   Toe  Punch.  Bands  on   Legs. 


254  THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF  POULTRY 

Banding  the  newly  hatched  chicks.  We  now  have  the  chicks  hatched  in  the 
pedigree  compartments  in  such  a  mariner  that  their  parentage  is  known.  When  they 
are  taken  out  of  these  compartments,  however,  it  becomes  necessary  to  mark  them 
in  some  way  immediately,  otherwise  the  pedigree  would  be  lost.  The  usual  method 
of  marking  the  chicks  is  to  leg-band  them  writh  numbered,  metal  leg  bands.  Those 
used  at  the  Government  Farm  are  No.  2  open  pigeon  bands,  which  have  a  simple 
fastener  that  can  be  employed  after  the  bands  are  transferred  to  the  wings.  For 
the  purpose  of  greater  accuracy  in  our  records,  and  to  prevent  the  loss  of  the  chick's 
pedigree  through  the  occasional  loss  of  a  leg  band,  two  bands  are  used  on  each 
chick.  These  bands  bear  the  same  number,  and  one  is  placed  around  each  leg. 

In  attaching  the  band,  one  end  of  it  is  formed  in  a  half  circle,  slipped  around 
the  leg,  and  the  rest  of  the  band  simply  folded  around  the  leg.  Care  must  be 
taken  to  see  that  the  bands  are  not  put  on  so  tightly  as  to  pinch  the  leg,  as  this 
would  cause  a  severe  injury.  On  the  other  hand,  bands  must  not  be  put  on  so 
loosely  that  they  will  slip  off  over  the  foot  and  become  lost. 

As  the  bands  are  placed  on  the  chick,  a  record  is  made  of  the  number  of  the 
band,  the  pen  number  from  which  the  egg  came,  the  number  of  the  hen  which 
laid  the  egg,  the  date  of  hatching,  and  any  other  information  desired. 

Enlarging  the  leg  bands.  As  the  chicks  grow,  the  size  of  the  leg  increases 
quite  rapidly.  Early  in  the  second  week  the  chicks  should  all  be  gone  over  care- 
fully and  the  bands  opened  up  to  provide  for  the  growth  of  the  leg.  The  bands 
should  be  opened  just  as  far  as  possible  without  their  slipping  off  over  the  feet. 

Transferring  the  bands  to  the  wings.  At  any  time  after  the  chicks  are  three 
weeks  old  they  will  be  large  enough  for  the  removal  of  the  bands  from  the  legs 
to  the  wings.  This  is  desirable,  since  it  will  make  it  unnecessary  to  go  over  the 
chicks  a 'second  time  for  the  purpose  of  opening  up  the  bands  to  accommodate 
the  growth  of  the  legs.  Once  the  bands  are  inserted  in  the  wings,  no  further 
attention  need  be  given  them,  as  they  become  permanent  marks.  The  way  in  which 
the  bands  are  inserted  in  the  wings  is  as  follows : 

When  the  wing  of  the  chick  is  opened,  a  flap  of  skin  will  be  noticed  which  ex- 
tends from  the  shoulder  joint  across  to  the  third  joint  of  the  wing,  counting  the 
shoulder  joint  as  the  first  joint.  By  holding  this  skin  up  to  the  light,  a  place 
can  be  selected  about  a  quarter-inch  from  the  edge  of  the  skin  where  there  are 
no  large  blood  vessels.  At  this  point  run  the  small  blade  of  a  penknife  through 
the  wing.  Little  bleeding  will  result.  Remove  the  band  from  the  leg,  insert 
it  through  the  slit  in  the  skin,  and  bring  the  ends  together,  forming  the  band  into 
a  circle.  The  ends  of  the  band  can  then  be  fastened  together  by  means  of  its 
fastening  device. 

Care  must  be  taken  in  placing  the  band  in  the  wing  that  it  is  not  pressed 
together  so  as  to  squeeze  or  pinch  the  skin  of  the  wing.  'If  this  is  done,  the 
circulation  will  be  cut  off,  a  sore  will  result,  and  the  band  may  slough  out  and 
be  lost.  These  bands,  when  put  in  properly,  will  remain  in  the  wing  of  the  fowl 
through  mature  life  and  will  always  serve  as  a  permanent  identification  mark. 
However,  it  will  be  found  that  it  is  not  easy  to  read  the  numbers  on  these  bands 
on  account  of  the  feathers  which  interfere.  On  this  account  these  bands  do  not 
make  suitable  means  of  identification  when  the  fowls  have  reached  maturity  and 
are  placed  in  separate  pens  or  trapnested.  Because  of  this,  leg  bands  may  be  used 
when  the  fowls  are  removed  to  thir  winter  quarters  in  the  fall. 

Opportunity  for  pedigree  poultry  breeding.  Pedigreed  breeding  cannot  be  made 
a  simple  process.  It  takes  time,  it  takes  pains,  and  unless  one  is  prepared  to  give 
it  the  time  and  attention  necessary,  he  had  best  not  attempt  pedigree  breeding  in 
poultry.  For  the  general  poultry  keeper  it  is  probable  that  trapnesting  and  pedi- 
gree breeding  are  both  impracticable.  It  is  only  the  specialist,  who  has  some  par- 
ticular purpose  in  his  breeding  operations  and  can  afford  to  give  the  time  and  at- 
tention necessary,  who  can  go  to  the  expense  of  this  kind  of  breeding.  For  such 
a  specialist,  whether  he  is  breeding  for  exhibition  stock,  for  stock  of  heavy  egg- 
producing  proclivities,  or  for  a  combination  of  the  two,  there  is  a  splendid  widen- 
ing field  and  a  constantly  growing  demand  for  stock  of  known  pedigree  and  per- 
formance. 


Index 


American  breeds,  origin  of,  13 
Asiatic  fowls,  9,  10,  12,   17 

Back,  71 

Barred  color,   inheritance  of,  92 

Barred   Plymouth  Rocks 

breeding  of,  92,    110,   111,   125,   127 

crosses  that  produced  the,   106 

dark  and  light  matings  in,   127 

early  breeders  of,   104 

future  of,  128 

improvement  in,  115 

mating  for  color  in,    125 

origin  of,   15,   103,   106 

pullet  breeding,  119 
Barring,   89 

lighter  in  male  than  in  female,   110 
Beak,  77 
Black  Wyandottes 

early  history  of,  208 

eye  color  of,  207 

future  of,  209 

mating  of,  209 

recognized  as  a  Standard  variety,   3-17 

shank  color  of,  207 
Blue  color,  86 
Blue  Plymouth  Rocks,  171 
Body,   74 
Breast,  73 
Breeder 

place  of  the,  37 

qualifications  of  the,  39 

work  of,  43 
Breeding 

color  and  markings,  91 

effect  of  heavy  laying  on,  28 

factors  in,  51 

for  increased  egg  production,  26,  49 

for  increased  size,  21 

principles  of,  48 
Buff  Plymouth  Rocks 

breeding  of,   148 

correct  shade  of  buff,  146 

origin  of,   141 
Buff  Wyandottes 

breeding  of,  202 

correct  color  of,  205 

origin  of,  201 
Buckeyes 

characteristics  of,  250 

origin  of,   249 

Columbian  Plymouth  Rocks 
mating,    168 
origin  of,  164 


Columbian  Wyandottes 

mating,   229 

origin  of,  227 

Combs,   rose  and  single,  48,  78 
Culling,   62 

Dominiques,   108,  236 
Double  mating,  94 

Ear  lobes,  77,  100 
Economical  producers,  32 
Eggs 

brown  shelled,  18 

purebred  birds  as  layers  of,  27 

records  of,  23 
Eyes,  77,  101 

Face,  77 
Fancier,  80 
Feather 

secondary,  82 

size  of,  86 

structure  of,  82 
Fluff,  74 

Giants,   Black  Jersey,  234 
Golden   Laced   Wyandottes 

mating  of,   191 

origin  of,    186 

progress  in,  187 

type  of,   190 

Hatching,  late,  99 
Head,  76 

Inbreeding,   44 

Javas,    Black,    231 

characteristics  of,  233 

mating,  233 

Mottled,   234 

White,  234 
Judging,  69 
Jungle  fowls,  6 

Lacing,  89,   181 
Sebright,   184 
Legs,  75 
Leg  bands,  253 
Linebreeding,  46 

Meat 

breeding  for,  20 

poultry,   19 

wanted  by  poultry  buyers,  22 


255 


256 


THE  AMERICAN   BREEDS   OF   POULTRY 


Mendelism,  48 
Missouri    Fluffs,   248 
Molt,  96 
of  pullets,  99 

Neck,  72 

Opportunity  for  breeders,   35,    52 
Origin  of  the  fowl,  5 

Partridge  Cochins,  157,  220 
Partridge   Plymouth    Rocks 

mating,    161 

origin  of,   155 
Partridge  Wyandottes 

beauty  of,  "211 

correct  color  of,   218 

great  improvers  of,   215 

introduction  of,  212 

mating,  219,  220 

name  selected,   215 

originators   of,   213 
Pedigree    breeding,    252 
Penciling,   89 
Plumage,  58,  59 

beauty  of,  79 

colors  found   in,  86 

growth  of,   95 

male,    84 

patterns  of,  88 

texture  of,  85 

utility  of,   81 
Poultry  products 

demand   for,   33 
Poultry  shows,  41 
Prepotency,    47 
Prices   for  purebred  stock,   34,   52 

Rhode  Island  Reds 

color   of,    243 

early  history  of,   240 

improvers    of,    242 

mating  of,   244 

size  of,  240 

type  of,   239 
Rhode   Island    Whites 

egg  value  of,  247 

mating   of,   248 

origin   of,    247 

Score   card,   61 
Selection,  43 

natural,   44 

to  produce   heavy  layers,   65 


Shape 

body,  60 

for  meat  production,  66 

of  good   layers,   62 

typical,  60 

typical  of  breeds,  67 
Silver    Laced    Wyandottes 

early   popularity,    179 

English  blood   in,    181 

dark  fad  in,    181 

mating  of,    185 

naming   the,    173 

theories  of  origin,   174 
Silver    Penciled    Plymouth    Rocks 

decline   of,    152 

mating  of,    153 

origin   of,    149 

Iver   Penciled    Wyandottes, 

color  of,   223 

mating,  22b 

origin    of,    223 
Size,    relation   to   type,    57 
Strain,    building   a,    43 
Symmetry,   68 

Tail,  72 

Toe  marking,  252 

Trapnests,  252 

Type 

breed,    55 

dual   purpose,   29 

future  of  dual  purpose,  31 

judging,    55 

Variation,  46 

Washing  white  fowls  for   exhibition,    199 

Wattles,    77 

White 

color,    86 

inheritance   of,   87 
White   Plymouth    Rocks 

as   a    Standard   variety,    137 

mating,    140 

modern,    139 

origin   of,   131,    133 
White    Wyandottes 

defects  found   in,    198 

early   history    of,    193 

mating   of,    198 

prominent  breeders  of,   196 

washing  for  exhibition,    199 
Wings,  73 


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